A Familiar's Intuition
by Dragonsrule18
Summary: What if the boa constrictor from the zoo had sensed something was seriously wrong with Harry and gone to Privet Drive to rescue him? What if they had travelled until Harry's letter came? What if the boa constrictor had gone with Harry to Hogwarts? And what if the Wizarding World had believed a lie? Evil!Dumbledore, Good!Voldemort/Deatheaters, Abusive!Dursleys.
1. Rescue

A Familiar's Intuition

**Hi everyone! This is my first Harry Potter story and I hope it turns out well!**

**Oddly enough, my favorite Harry Potter scene is The Vanishing Glass. And I had an idea. What if the boa constrictor had had a nagging feeling that something was wrong with Harry and gone to Privet Drive to rescue him? What if the snake had been Harry's familiar? What if they had traveled until Harry got his letter? What if the boa constrictor had gone with Harry to Hogwarts? What if Dumbledore was not the saint that he liked everyone to think he was? And what if Voldemort and his Death Eaters were not the monsters the Wizarding World thought they were?**

**Yes, that's probably too many what if questions for one author's note.**

**There will be slash in this story, in the form of a Voldemort/Severus pairing. There will be nothing M rated(No sex scenes) There will also be Harry/Luna and Draco/Hermione much later in the story as there is NO way I'm starting romance while they're only 11. Right now, the main focus will be the friendship between Harry and Hercules(the boa constrictor).**

**The Dursleys will be more abusive in my story than in canon, just as a warning. I will not be overly descriptive of the abuse, but if you think I need to change the rating, let me know.**

**This author's note has gone on a little too long. On with the show! Please remember to review! And I do not own Harry Potter, that belongs to the genius of J.K Rowling.**

**Boa Constrictor POV**

"_Brazil, here I come! Thanksss, Amigo!" _I hissed to the child that had freed me. I wished I could have stayed and talked to him longer, but I had to get out before the zookeepers caught me and stuffed me back into that cramped cage.

Somehow, I got out of the zoo without being noticed and caught. Once I was hidden in a safe place, I thought back to my encounter with the strange child who could speak my language. I felt privileged that I had met a Speaker, especially one as kind as that little hatchling had been. No one, not the zookeepers and definitely not the humans that came to stare at me and tap the glass(I hated that! Didn't they read the sign that says, 'Do Not Tap On Glass?!) had ever cared about me like that. And not only did he care, but he seemed to _understand. _With that realization, dread overcame me. For some reason that I couldn't comprehend, I felt that something was wrong with that little human hatchling, and that he needed my help.

I went back over the encounter again in my mind. What had made me think that? What's going on here? Remembering my first look at the child, I recalled that he seemed tiny for a human(especially compared to that pig boy that whined at his father to tap my cage) and looked like he hadn't eaten well in a long time. And when I had passed him, I tasted something familiar in the air, similar to the scent from my many meals. _Blood._

Had he gotten hurt when that pig boy pushed him down? Anger filled me when I remembered that moment, my new friend being shoved to the ground hard, and me in the cage unable to help him. I wish that I had done something more that simply snap at the heels of those… _things… _as I fled, but I knew I needed to get out quickly. Most of my focus had been on my new friend at that moment, but I suddenly remembered something else. The human adults that I assumed were with the pig boy and my little hatchling…had _smiled. _And then it hit me harder than when I was first placed in the cage and tried to ram my way out through the glass(Not one of my better ideas). They had _hurt _him. Were probably still hurting him! I had to get to him, fast! But how?

Just as I thought that, a strange pull came over me, encouraging me to move in a certain direction. Snakes trust their instincts, so I knew I had to follow it. It took me three days, traveling through the night and hiding and sleeping through the day to find the source of the pull on the third evening. It was a large white human house with a few squares of glass on it and a few strange plants in front of it. I hid behind the big plant next to the nearest square and looked through it.

Inside, the towering human male loomed over my frightened hatchling, screaming something I couldn't understand. Suddenly he punched my hatchling in the face hard, making my hatchling fall to the ground. My hatchling curled up in a ball, trying to protect his head. Only the glass and the knowledge that if I did what I so wanted to do, that I would never be able to get my hatchling out of there prevented me from going in there and slowly crushing that human to death. I certainly didn't want to, but I had to wait.

The hulking human male grabbed my hatchling by the collar and threw him into a tiny room, shutting and latching the door. It was two horrible hours before the bad human lumbered up the things they called "stairs" and I determined it was safe to rescue my amigo. I couldn't budge the square of glass I was at, so I checked the others. One was open, just a crack, but enough that I could push my nose through and shove it open enough to get in. Silently, I slithered through the rooms until I found the one my friend had been thrown into. I stared at the latch, trying to figure out how to open it. Biting down on the cold metal and tugging it, I finally managed to pull it loose and the door came open slightly.

As I pushed open the door, I heard a soft, frightened whimper. Pushing the door open fully, I noticed my hatchling curled into a ball, hands covering his face in an attempt to protect himself. "Please Uncle…don't hurt me…" he murmured, shaking. I knew enough human language from the zoo to interpret what he said, and responded as gently as possible, trying to soothe his terror. _"No, Amigo. It's me. I'm going to get you out of here."_

**Hoped you liked my first chapter of my very first Harry Potter story! I know the boa constrictor probably was a little too intelligent, but my excuse is that he's lived at the zoo for a long time and picked up on a lot of things. Plus, you never truly know what goes on in a snake's head!**

**Please review! Constructive criticism will always be accepted, flames will be ignored. **


	2. Explanations and Escape

A Familiar's Intuition

**Thank you, everyone for your wonderful reviews! There was an anonymous reviewer named Moi who asked some very interesting questions that I'll answer here in this author's note.**

**1. The boa constrictor is male and about 10 feet long, slightly larger than the average male boa constrictor which runs about 6-8 feet on average. Females tend to run about 7-10 feet long and are normally larger than the males. The average boa constrictor lives about 20-30 years, with some getting up to age 40 on rare occasions. This one is around 10 years of age, but its lifespan will be greatly extended to match that of Harry's due to the magic of the familiar bond.**

**2. This boa constrictor was bred in captivity in another zoo but was bought by the zoo Harry visited. At its old zoo, its cage was next to that of a wild-captured cobra who bragged about meeting a Speaker with strange powers. Our boa constrictor knows about Speakers through ancestral knowledge and what the cobra had told him, but he has very limited knowledge on magic, though he will pick up more knowledge on it due to instinct and observation.**

**3. The boa constrictor does not know about the muggle obsession with paperwork, nor does he know about the letter Dumbledore sent the Dursleys, though he will find out about both later. Right now his main focus is getting Harry out of the Dursley home and keeping him alive. He didn't notice the scent of the kneazles in his rush to get to Harry, and probably won't even know what a kneazle even is until they meet Mrs. Norris. **

**Hope this helps! Please review and if you have any questions or concerns, ask!**

Chapter 2

Explanations and Escape

Normal POV

"_No, Amigo. It's me. I'm going to get you out of here."_

Harry cautiously uncurled himself. There had only been one person-well not so much a person- who had ever called him "amigo". Putting on his glasses, he noticed the shadowy outline of a very big snake close to the now open cupboard door. _"How did you…What…Why?" _Harry stammered. What was going on? And how could he understand what a snake was saying? Was he dreaming? Or worse going insane? _"How are you here? You told me…told me you were going to Brazil. How can I even understand you? Is this even real? Am I losing my mind?" _Harry asked, starting to shake again, backing into the corner of his cupboard.

Noticing that the child was beginning to work himself into a panic, the boa constrictor hurried to soothe him. _"Amigo, it's okay. This is real and you are NOT losing your mind. This might sound a little bit strange, but you're a Speaker, meaning that you're a human with the ability to speak to snakes. I'm here because I knew something was wrong and that you needed me. And I am going to Brazil, but you're coming with me. I'm not letting you stay in this place and get hurt. I saw what they did to you, hatchling, and I'm NOT going to let it happen again. You freed me, now it's my turn to free you."_

The gentle tone made Harry relax a little, and he moved away from the corner and closer to the snake. He still wasn't fully convinced that this wasn't a dream, but it felt good to be cared about by someone for the first time that he could remember. Something about the snake made Harry trust him, made him feel safe for the first time in his life. Impulsively, he reached out to touch the boa constrictor, to reassure himself that this was real. But the second that his hand touched the snake's scales, a bright flash filled the room, nearly blinding them both.

As the flash dissipated, a warm, comforting feeling flowed through Harry. It was like a puzzle piece that he didn't even know was missing had clicked into place. _"What was that?" _Harry asked, a little bit shakily. _"I…don't know." _the boa constrictor admitted. _"But it feels like whatever it was, that it was supposed to happen." _The snake looked toward the door. _"We need to get out of here. How bad are you hurt? Can you walk?" _he asked, looking at Harry with a concerned expression.Harry nodded. _"Yes. I'll be alright. It wasn't that bad this time." _he told the snake, the last two words barely audible. The boa constrictor looked worried, but let it go for the moment. He'd ask the child later, when they were both safe.

They exited the cupboard and took a quick detour into the kitchen, where Harry slipped a few apples, a couple pieces of cheese, and some hard rolls into his pocket, things he didn't think the Dursleys would miss. Dudley had left one of his Swiss Army knives on the table and Harry took that as well, knowing he'd need it. Then they slipped silently down the hall, out the front door, and into the night.

…

"_There's a forest near the park." _Harry told the snake as they hurried down Privet Drive. _"We should be able to reach there before sunrise and there's a cave in there we can hide in during the day." _Harry had found the cave one day while running away from Dudley's gang, and hidden there until they had gotten bored and went home.Luckily, Harry and the boa constrictor made it to the cave without being noticed, just as the first rays of the sun appeared over the horizon.

Later, lying near the back of the cave, the boa constrictor coiled around him, Harry remembered something he had forgotten to ask. _"Do you have a name?" _he blurted out. _"I do." _the snake replied. _"The zookeepers named me Hercules. A strange name but much better than the name one of the cobras got stuck with." "What was it?"_ Harry asked. Hercules made a strange hissing noise, and Harry jumped slightly before realizing the snake was laughing. _"Sir Hiss." "Poor snake." _Harry said, in between giggles._ "What's your name? I never did ask." _Hercules said. _"I'm Harry." _the child told him. _"Well, Harry, we probably should sleep soon. It's a long way to Brazil, and we probably should start going again once it gets dark." _Harry nodded and both soon fell asleep, neither knowing that their new adventure together would not quite be what they had planned.

**Hope you guys liked my latest chapter! Let me know if you have any questions or concerns!**

**Teaser:**

**Harry and Hercules are headed to Brazil. What happens when a mysterious letter interrupts their journey?**


	3. A Mysterious Letter

A Familiar's Intuition

**Hope you guys are enjoying this!**

A Mysterious Letter

Harry woke up a little disoriented around late afternoon. Where was he? Though somewhat cramped and cold, this place was definitely not his cupboard. Then the memories of last night came rushing back to him, so strange he wondered again if they were real. The snake from the zoo, Hercules, coming to rescue him, giving him a way out of the horror that had been his home life. The comforting feeling of friendship and the knowledge that someone might actually care about him. Running into the woods and falling asleep inside the cave. He looked around for Hercules, but saw no sign of him. Harry was alone in the cave.

Where was Hercules? Had he left? Harry began to panic. Was Hercules even real at all? Was last night simply a dream and he had sleepwalked into this cave? Or worse, had Hercules realized how much of a freak Harry was and left him, just like everyone else Harry had ever cared about? He didn't deserve Hercules after all. Freaks didn't deserve to have friends. Freaks don't get to be loved. That lesson had been drilled into him so many times at the Dursleys. Wrapped in his thoughts, Harry didn't even realize he had started to shake and hyperventilate. Suddenly, a voice penetrated his thoughts. _"Harry?"_

…

Hercules had just hunted down and killed a rabbit when he felt a wave of panic that was definitely not from his own mind. _Harry. _Grabbing his catch, he rushed back to the cave, panic now rushing through him as well. He shouldn't have left the child sleeping alone in the cave, but he needed to hunt, and Harry was sleeping so soundly that he didn't want to wake him. Arriving at the cave entrance, he dropped the rabbit and tasted the air. It was obvious Harry was still there and he didn't smell any predators, other humans, or blood. What had happened to his hatchling to make him that scared?

Slithering into the cave, he called _"Harry?" _He soon spotted his hatchling, curled in the back of the cave, shaking. The child didn't even seem to realize his presence. _"Harry? What's wrong?" _he asked, coiling gently around the child and nudging him. This seemed to make the child come out of his panic a little. _"Hercules?" _he murmured. _"Yes. Are you okay? What happened?" _Hercules asked, concerned._ "I'm sorry…" _Harry whispered. _"What for?" _Hercules questioned, wondering what on earth this sweet child felt he had to be sorry for. _"For being such a freak! I'll do better, I promise! I don't want to lose you! I'm sorry!" _

"_What?!" _Hercules hissed angrily. How dare those…things…make his sweet little hatchling feel like he was a freak! _"I'm going to kill those things…crush them until they..!" _Harry flinched away, bumping into the back of the cave wall, his arms instinctively reaching up to protect his head. _"I'm sorry…" _he murmured again. The anger left Hercules, replaced by guilt and concern. He coiled around Harry a little tighter, yet still being careful to be gentle. _"No, amigo. I'm the one who should be sorry. I shouldn't have yelled like that. I'm not mad at you, I'm mad at the humans who hurt you this much." _Harry's eyes were glued to the ground. _"Harry, look at me." _Hercules commanded gently. Harry slowly looked up at the boa constrictor. _"You are NOT a freak. And I'm not going to leave you. Is that why you were so upset, because you woke up this morning and I was gone?" _Harry looked down again and nodded. _"Harry, I was only gone because I needed to hunt for both of us. You were sleeping so soundly I didn't want to wake you. I was hoping to get back before you woke up. I'm not going to leave you for good, ever. You're my friend and I care about you, and that's never going to change." _

Harry looked up at the snake and smiled, tears in his eyes. _"Thank you." _he whispered. He still didn't believe fully that he deserved Hercules, but maybe someday he could believe it. _"Did I ruin your hunt?" _he asked, worried. _"No." _Hercules reassured him. _"I found something to eat, and I brought something back for you, too. I don't know what humans eat, but I hope this works." _Hercules went to the cave entrance and brought in the dead rabbit. Harry looked at it. _"It will. Thank you."_

"_I still don't understand why you humans feel the need to set your food on fire." _Hercules commented, watching the rabbit roasting over the fire Harry had built. Harry had cleaned the rabbit using the Swiss Army knife he had stolen from Dudley and was slowly rotating it over the fire with the use of a long stick. Uncle Vernon had hunted occasionally and made Harry clean his catches, so he knew what to do.

"_I don't understand why you snakes eat it raw." _Harry teased, then looked down, worried he had offended the snake, but Hercules simply made the hissing sound that indicated he was laughing and Harry relaxed. Harry had cheered up considerably since the talk he had with Hercules several hours earlier. _"Seriously, why do you set your food on fire before you eat it?" _Hercules asked. _"Raw meat has bacteria in it that would make us sick if we ate it. Cooking destroys the bacteria." _Hercules nodded.

A few minutes later, it was ready and Harry ate, happy that he was for once able to eat his fill, something that had never happened at the Dursleys. Once he was finished, he carefully stored the leftovers in his pockets and he and Hercules left the cave, heading on the next leg of their journey.

…..

Hogwarts

Albus Dumbledore sat in his office, sucking on a lemon drop. Everything was going to plan. The Dursleys had gladly abused Harry Potter at his request. He would be coming to Hogwarts a broken child, malleable, the perfect pawn. He would see Albus Dumbledore as his hero, his savior, his mentor. Albus Dumbledore would have his perfect weapon in his fight against Voldemort. But what he didn't know was that the letter heading on its way to Harry Potter had recently had an address change.

…

Two Weeks Later

Harry smiled as he stepped out of the latest cave they had used as shelter. The last two weeks had been the best of his life. Most humans would consider his new life to be hard or primitive but Harry loved it. He was away from the Dursleys, but more importantly, he now had Hercules. He and the snake had grown even closer since the start of their journey and were completely inseparable. Keeping away from human settlements, they kept Hercules' old pattern of traveling through the night and sleeping through the day. They spent the days in caves, or if failing to find those, simply sleeping under trees or in small clearings, taking turns keeping watch for humans. They had the occasional rough spots on their journey; steep hills(one Harry had almost fallen down one before Hercules grabbed him), cloudbursts, briar patches(Harry had to untangle Hercules from more than one of those), and a close call with a hunter who had almost seen them, but it was nothing they couldn't get through together.

Harry still had nightmares; mostly about the Dursleys, but there was one strange one involving green light and evil laughter. But whenever he cried out in his sleep, or woke up shaking, Hercules was always there for him, offering reassurance that he was safe and helping him get back to sleep.

Harry was pulled from his thoughts as he stepped on something that make a crinkling noise. Looking down, he noticed an envelope carefully weighted down with a rock, one that read:

_**H.J Potter**_

_**The Cave In The Woods**_

. His heart nearly stopped. What was going on? Had someone found him? _"Hercules!" _he called frantically. Hercules, who had been hunting nearby, rushed over to him. _"What's wrong?" _he asked. _"I found this envelope. It has my name on it. Hercules, I think someone might have found us!" _Harry told him. Cautiously, he opened the envelope, looking in shock at the paper inside. Harry read it aloud to Hercules.

_**Hogwarts School Of Witchcraft and Wizardry**_

_**Headmaster Albus Dumbledore**_

_**(Order Of Merlin, First Class, Grand Sorcerer., Chief Warlock, Supreme Mugwump, International Confederation of Wizards)**_

_**Dear Mr. Potter,**_

_**We are pleased to inform you that you have been accepted at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. Please find enclosed a list of necessary books and equipment. Term begins on September 1. We await your owl by no later than July 31.**_

The second page was a list of strange books and supplies. Harry looked at Hercules. _"What does this mean?" _Harry asked, hoping the snake would know what to do. _"I don't know, but I don't like it that someone found us. We need to get out of here." _Hercules replied grimly.

For the next two days, the two were plagued by letters no matter where they went. They were sticking out of tree trunks, under stones, and being brought by owls which Hercules struck at to keep them away. A huge shower of probably over a hundred letters came down from the sky from seemingly nowhere. Harry was terrified, and Hercules, while trying to stay calm for Harry's sake, wasn't much better. Neither were sleeping well for fear of being caught and separated from each other.

Hiding in a cave on the second night, Harry clung to Hercules in fear. _"Harry, it's going to be okay. I'll protect you from whatever this is. No one's going to separate us. I won't let them." _Hercules soothed, trying to hide the fact that he was just as scared as Harry. He couldn't lose this child, not now when they had grown so close. _"We need to sleep, so we're rested and ready for what comes. We can face this." _Hercules said, trying to convince himself as much as Harry. Exactly at midnight July 31st, Harry's birthday, although he had forgotten about it, and had never told Hercules, they were startled awake by heavy footsteps.

**My longest chapter so far! I hope everyone liked it! I think I got some good bonding in between Harry and Hercules.**

**The reason Harry and Hercules were terrified by the letters was that neither had any clue of what was going on and were terrified of being caught and separated(one is a snake and the other a runaway minor)**

**Some of you may think Harry seemed weak and somewhat dependent on Hercules this chapter. Remember, he is a very abused child who has no idea of his powers who has just found someone who cares about him that he is terrified of losing. Eventually Hercules will help get him over this, but Rome wasn't built in a day and the abuse may affect him for a long time.**

**Teaser**

**Harry and Hercules meet a mysterious stranger and learn about a world they never knew existed. They take a trip to Diagon Alley and meet some important allies.**


	4. A World They Knew Not

A Familiar's Intuition

**Thank you, everyone for all the wonderful reviews you gave me on this story. A reviewer called Moi asked some very good questions I'd like to clear up here.**

**1.) Most of the time, Professor McGonagall delivers the letters to muggleborn and muggle-raised students. However, Albus Dumbledore convinced her not to deliver this one, telling her the Dursleys knew enough about the wizarding world to explain things to Harry and that he'd send Hagrid in a few days to take him to Diagon Alley. Professor McGonagall thinks Dumbledore can be trusted and did not question him.**

**2.) Most children do not get harassed with letters the way Harry was, but even in canon(since he was so famous), they were bound and determined to get the letters to him no matter what way. In canon, the letters were randomly given to a hotel manager, sent down through the chimney, and even delivered with an egg delivery, each one tucked inside an egg. I'm really not sure how all of that was done, and I'm not sure how exactly the letters that weren't delivered with an owl were delivered. And as for the constant harassment, since he didn't reply, they thought he hadn't gotten the letter. No one paid any attention to the addresses on the letters when they were delivered.**

**Some of the conversation between Hagrid and Harry comes from Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone, Chapter Four, The Keeper of The Keys.**

A World They Knew Not

_Exactly at midnight July 31__st__, Harry's birthday, although he had forgotten about it, and had never told Hercules, they were startled awake by heavy footsteps._

"_What was that?" _Harry asked shakily, putting his glasses. _"Someone's coming. We need to get out of here." _Hercules said, extremely worried, but trying to stay calm for Harry's sake. But before they had moved more than a few feet toward the cave door, a huge outline of a man carrying a torch, twice as large as even Harry's uncle, appeared at the entrance of the cave. _"Harry, get behind me." _Hercules commanded, moving into strike position. Harry immediately complied.

The man came closer. He was enormous, with his face almost completely hidden under long, shaggy hair and a tangled beard. "There you are, Harry!" he said before jumping back as Hercules struck, hissing loudly. "Easy, big fella!" the giant said, raising up his hands in surrender. "I'm not gonna hurt 'im. Looks like yuh got yerself a loyal familiar there, Harry. Anyway, expected to find yeh at yer aunt and uncle's.." At this, Harry flinched slightly and Hercules hissed louder and glaring at the giant, who looked completely confused.

"W-who are you? And what do you want with us?" Harry asked from behind the angry snake.

"Sorry, I haven't introduced meself. Rubeus Hagrid, Keeper of the Keys and Grounds at Hogwarts. Call me Hagrid, everyone does. Anyways, I came to give you yer Hogwarts letter-yeh know all about Hogwarts o' course." Confused, Harry shook his head. He had read the letter, but it hadn't made any sense.

Hagrid looked shocked. "I knew yeh weren't getting yer letters but I never thought yeh wouldn't even know about Hogwarts, fer cryin' out loud! Did yeh even wonder where yer parents learned it all?"

"All what?" Harry asked. Hercules had relaxed his strike position slightly, but was still keeping a wary eye on the giant.

"ALL WHAT? Didn't those blasted muggles tell you anything about ANYTHING?" Hagrid boomed. Harry shrank back, and Hercules struck again, with a 'threaten him and you die' expression on his face. "Sorry." Hagrid said sheepishly. "I really shouldn'ta shouted like 'hat. I meant, didn' those muggles tell you anything about our world? _Your _world? _My _world? _Your parents world?_"

Clinging to Hercules, Harry shook his head. "What world?"

Hagrid looked at Harry, wild-eyed. "But yeh must know about yer mum and dad. They're _famous. _You're _famous._"

Harry looked at Hagrid in disbelief. The Dursleys had always told him that his parents were drunks that died in a car crash. "What? My mum and dad weren't famous- were they?

Hagrid looked completely bewildered. "Yeh don' know….Yeh don' know _what you are? _Yeh didn't see the letter Dumbledore sent with you?_" _Harry's confused and frightened expression was his answer. Hagrid sighed, running his hands through his hair. "Harry, yer a wizard."

Harry looked at Hercules. _"Is he lying? Insane? Is this some kind of practical joke?" _he asked.

Hercules thought for a minute. _"He seems sincere." _he said finally. _"My gut instinct tells me he's not lying. And I remember Sir Hiss bragging to me once about meeting a Speaker with strange powers-he was wild before they captured him and sent him to the zoo. I thought he was just making up stories at the time, but now I'm not so sure. Remember, you did release me without even touching the glass."_

Harry did remember. And hadn't other strange things happened around him, especially when he was angry or upset? Like the time when Dudley and his gang were chasing him and he found himself on the top of the school roof, out of their reach…his hair growing back overnight when Aunt Petunia had shaved it off…Objects sometimes shattering when Uncle Vernon hit him….All these incidents had gotten him beatings from the Dursleys even when he tried to explain that he _couldn't _explain what happened. Then it hit him. They _knew._

Hercules recognized the oncoming symptoms of a panic attack and gently coiled around Harry whispering reassurances. _"T-they knew, Hercules. They knew I was a wizard and they knew I didn't know and they beat me anyway. They hate anything abnormal, anything like me." _Harry sobbed.

"_Harry, the Dursleys are horrible humans. The way they treated you is in no way your fault." _Hercules comforted, trying to hide his anger. He so wanted to crush those disgusting things into a slow and painful death for hurting his hatchling so much.

Hagrid watched the scene in confusion and worry. What had upset that child so? Was it something he said? Was he upset to be a wizard? Trying to calm Harry, he quickly said, "Harry, it's a _good _thing to be a wizard. Yer mum and dad were, thumpin' good ones, if I do say so meself. Didn' yer Aunt and Uncle at least tell yeh all about them?"

"All I know is that they died in a car crash." Harry said, looking down at the ground, still holding tightly to Hercules.

"CAR CRASH?" Hagrid roared. "Those blasted Muggles! How could a car crash kill Lily an' James Potter? It's an outrage! A scandal! Harry Potter not knowin' his own story when every kid in our world knows his name!" Harry was shaking again and Hagrid realized his mistake. Then something occurred to him, something that had been nagging at his mind since he first stepped into the cave and saw the tiny, frightened child, alone in the woods with only his familiar keeping him company. He hadn't wanted to believe it, had pushed the feeling away, hoping desperately that he was wrong.

"Harry?" Hagrid asked. The child reluctantly looked up at him. "Did…Did the muggles treat yeh alright?" Harry just stared at him with wide, frightened eyes, and he knew the answer, even before the snake coiled around the child shook its head no.

Hagrid sat down heavily on the cold stone ground and buried his head in his hands. The son of his beloved friends, Lily and James, abused. He wasn't sure how to handle this. He wished Severus or Minerva were here; they'd know what to do. He'd have to get word to Dumbledore as soon as possible, so Harry could be removed from the Dursleys' "care" and placed with a loving family. But first he had to explain everything to the child, including the whole horrible story of You-Know-Who and the death of Harry's parents. He didn't feel he was the right one to explain it- he'd never been good with words- but he would manage somehow.

"I never expected this." he said, looking at Harry and his familiar with tears in his eyes. "I had no idea, when Dumbledore told me there might be trouble getting hold of yeh, how yeh'd been treated, how much yeh didn't know." Hagrid rubbed his eyes. "Ah, Harry, I don' know if I'm the right person ter tell yeh-but someone's gotta- yeh can't go off ter Hogwarts not knowin'."

Hercules' mind was racing. This Dumbledore person had told the enormous man in their cave that there might be trouble getting hold of Harry, yet Hagrid had said that he thought Harry would be at his aunt and uncles. Had it simply been because they had kept moving, refusing to answer the letters(even though they had no idea HOW to respond, even if they had wanted to.)? Or was there something more? Hercules needed to know. It was the only way he could protect Harry, both from his relatives and the strange world that had burst its way into their peaceful life. Hagrid was speaking again and Hercules forced himself out of his thoughts, listening intently.

"Well, it's best yeh know as much as I can tell yeh- mind I can't tell yeh everythin', it's a great mystery, parts of it…" Hagrid fidgeted for a few seconds. How to tell a child a murderer had killed his parents….He'd rather eat hot lava… He took a deep breath. "It begins, I suppose, with a person called-" He paused, not wanting to continue, not wanting to say the name of the dreaded murderer of his two friends.

"Who?" Harry blurted out, curiosity overcoming fear for a split second.

"Well- I don' like sayin' the name if I can help it. No one does."

"Why not?" Harry asked. Normally Harry was afraid to ask questions- the Dursleys hated it when he did and would punish him- but this was something he needed to know, and Hercules was with him and would protect him.

"Gulpin' gargoyles, Harry, people are still scared. Blimey, this is difficult. See, there was this wizard who went… bad. As bad as you could go. Worse. Worse than worse. His name was…." Hagrid gulped, but no more words came out.

"_Will you just say it already?" _Hercules asked irritably, despite knowing that the strange human couldn't understand a word he was saying.

Harry stroked the annoyed snake, who relaxed slightly. "Could you write it down?" he suggested.

"Nah- can't spell it. All right- _Voldemort._" Hagrid shuddered. "Please don't make me say it again. Anyway, this- this wizard, about twenty years ago, started looking fer followers. Got 'em too- some were afraid, some just wanted a bit o' his power, 'cause he was getting himself power, all right. Dark days, Harry. Didn't know who ter trust, didn't dare get friendly with strange wizards or witches…terrible things happened. He was takin' over. Course, some stood up to him- an' he killed 'em. Horribly. One o' the only safe places left was Hogwarts. Reckon Dumbledore was the only one You-Know-Who was afraid of. Didn't dare try takin' the school, not jus' then, anyway.

Harry shivered and Hercules coiled closer, offering silent comfort. They both had an idea where this story would be going.

Now, yer mum an' dad were as good a witch an' wizard as I ever knew. Head boy an' girl in Hogwarts in their day! Suppose the mystery is why You-Know-Who never tried to get 'em on his side before…probably knew they were too close to Dumbledore ter want anything to do with the Dark Side."

"Maybe he thought he could persuade 'em…maybe he just wanted 'em out of the way. All anyone knows is, he turned up in the village where you was all living, on Halloween ten years ago. You was just a year old. He came ter yer house, an'-an'- he killed them."

Harry was shaking harder, tears running down his face. Hercules didn't know what to say to comfort him. The child had been through so much already, and adding this to the list…

Hagrid pulled out a handkerchief and blew his nose loud enough to make the cave rattle. "Sorry." he said, once he had contained himself enough to speak. "But it's that sad- knew yer mum and dad, an' nicer people yeh couldn't find- anyway…" Hagrid really didn't want to say this last part but he had to.

Wiping his eyes, he said softly, "An', this is the real mystery of the thing, he tried to kill you, too. Wanted to make a clean job of it, I suppose, or maybe he just liked killin' by then. But he couldn't do it. The mark on yer forehead- it's no ordinary cut. That's what yeh get when a powerful evil curse touches yeh- took care o' yer mum an' dad an' yer house even- but it didn't work on you, an' that's why yer famous, Harry. No one ever lived after he decided ter kill 'em, no one except you, an' he'd killed some o' the best witches an' wizards of the age- the McKinnon's, the Bones, the Prewitts- an' you was a baby, an' you lived."

Harry remembered something; the flash of green light, the pain, and the evil laugh that haunted his dreams. Had it been a memory? He buried his head in Hercules' scales, trying to get the image out of his mind.

As for Hercules, all he could do was hold tighter to the hatchling he had so nearly lost before they had even met. He wished he could have gone back in time, protected Harry from all this, but he couldn't, and even if he could, there may have been nothing he could have done.

Hagrid looked at them both sadly. "Took yeh from the ruined house myself, on Dumbledore's orders. Brought yeh ter the muggles…"

Hercules didn't even let him finish before uncoiling himself from Harry and rushing at Hagrid. _"You TOOK him there? They hurt him! Neither you or this Dumbledore or anyone else even bothered to see if he was okay?! Stay away from us! I'm not letting him get hurt ever again! Get out!"_

Of course Hagrid couldn't understand what the enormous, enraged boa constrictor was saying exactly but he could pretty much guess. Lowering his head and not even making a move to get away from the angry snake, he said; "Yeh can bite me if you wan' to. Merlin knows I deserve it. Jus' know that if I'd have known what'd they'd do, I never woulda brought 'im there."

This cooled Hercules' anger slightly and made him pause for a moment. Hagrid had seemed genuinely upset and remorseful about what Harry had gone through and Hagrid's own part in it. Something occurred to Hercules then. This Dumbledore had ordered Hagrid to take Harry to his relatives( for some reason, he kept calling them muggles, whatever that meant). Coupled with the fact that this Dumbledore had known Harry would have trouble with his letters made Hercules wonder; had Dumbledore known about the abuse? If so, why hadn't he gone to stop it? The only thing Hercules did know was that even though he didn't fully trust Hagrid; that Hagrid was innocent of whatever was going on and meant no harm to Harry. He nodded once at the man, then went back to Harry and curled around him again.

Harry snuggled into Hercules. Taking comfort from the snake, he asked, "W-what happened to Vold- I mean the man who killed my parents? Did they arrest him? Did he get away?"

"Good question, Harry." Hagrid replied. "Disappeared. Vanished. Same night he tried ter kill you. Makes yeh even more famous. That's the biggest mystery, see… he was getting more an' more powerful- why'd he go?"

"Some say he died. Codswallop, in my opinion. Dunno if he had enough human left in him to die. Some say he's still out there, bidin' his time, like, but I don' believe it. People who was on his side came back ter ours. Some of 'em came outta kinda trances. Don' reckon they could've done if he was comin' back.

"Most of us reckon he's still out there somewhere but lost his powers. Too weak to carry on. Cause something about you finished him, Harry. There was something goin' on that night he hadn't counted on- _I _dunno what it was, no one does- but something about you stumped him, alright."

This raised even more questions for Hercules. Was this predator still alive? If so, how would he protect Harry from it? He needed to think, needed a solid plan, something that would require knowing more about this strange new world. Even though he wanted to take Harry and hide where no one could find him, he knew this world would simply keep following them. The last few days had proved that much.

Harry's mind was racing too. How had he, a one year old baby, defeated some evil murderer wizard who had killed witches and wizards much more powerful than Harry? He would bet money that it had actually been his parents that had done something to protect him, or this Voldemort guy had messed up. He wasn't that powerful. He couldn't even stop his uncle from beating him, or his cousin from chasing him, so how could it have been him, especially at one year of age?

Suddenly Hagrid smacked himself in the forehead(a loud enough noise to make some small stalactites fall off the roof of the cave), making both Harry and Hercules jump and look at him in surprise. "All this time I've been talkin' yer ear off, and I never did give yeh yer letter!" Hagrid walked up to the two, and reaching over Hercules, handed Harry the letter.

Harry took the letter with trembling hands and re-read it. Even with his new knowledge, it didn't make much more sense then last time. He finally blurted out what he felt was the most confusing part. "What does it mean, they await my owl?"

"Gallopin' Gorgons, that reminds me," Hagrid said, smacking his forehead again(Hercules had to swat a falling stalactite away with his tail to keep it from hitting either of them) and pulling a quill, a piece of parchment, and a live, rumpled, and extremely irritated owl from his overcoat. Quickly he scrawled a letter, which read:

**Dear Professor Dumbledore,**

**Given Harry his letter.**

**Taking him to buy his things tomorrow.**

**But I have some bad news.**

**I need to talk to you as soon as I get back.**

**Hope you're well,**

**Hagrid**

He then gave the note to the owl, which grabbed it in its beak and flew out of the cave. "Oh, and a very happy birthday to yeh, Harry. I mean' to give this to you earlier but it mus' have slipped me mind with everything goin' on- I mighta sat on it at some point, but it'll taste all right." He handed Harry a large, somewhat squashed box.

Harry looked at Hercules, who nodded, so he hesitantly took the box and opened it carefully. Inside was a large, sticky chocolate cake with _**Happy Birthday Harry **_on it in green icing. Harry smiled softly and whispered, "Thanks."

Hagrid grinned back. The smile, which reminded him so much of Lily, was a far cry from the fear that had been in the child's eyes before. He'd make sure Dumbledore got Harry and Hercules into a good, loving home that would bring back the child Harry had once been before his parents had died. He smiled as he remembered the time when Lily and James had visited his hut in secret several months before they had died. Harry had been all smiles and giggles; reaching out his arms to be picked up, and tugging Hagrid's beard when he happily obliged; snuggling with Fang(Lily had taken a picture and given a copy to Hagrid, who kept it with his most prized possessions), and laughing as Hagrid made funny faces at him. The visit hadn't been long, James and Lily did have to hide from Voldemort after all, but it had been one of the best days of Hagrid's life.

Hagrid came out of his thoughts. Harry was staring at his birthday cake, but not eating it for some reason. Hercules was watching him quietly. "It's getting late and we got lots ter do tomorrow. Gotta get up ter town, get all yer books an' that." Hagrid told the two. Thinking Harry might get cold in the middle of the night, Hagrid took off his heavy coat and tossed it to him. Hercules hissed indignantly at nearly being buried under the coat. "Sorry." Hagrid said sheepishly. "You two can kip under that. Don' mind if it wiggles a bit, I think I still got a couple o' dormice in one o' the pockets." Hagrid plopped down on the ground and was asleep in seconds.

Harry however, remained awake. _"Hercules, what should we do?" "Right now, we play along."_ Hercules answered. _"We go with him, find out more about this world, and make a plan from there. If we just run, we'll be in the same situation we were in for the past few days. Make sure to tell him tomorrow though, that you'll only go if I come with you. I'm not leaving you alone in this." _

"_I'm sorry I got you into this mess, Hercules." _Harry said sadly. _"If you want to-" _Hercules cut him off.

"_Harry, don't you dare even think that!" _Hercules told him firmly._ "I am your familiar-whatever that means- and there is no way I'm going to leave you. I told you that on the very first day, remember? You are my hatchling, my friend, and with you is where I belong! And NONE of this is your fault, so don't think that either." _

Harry hugged the snake. _"Thanks." _he whispered. _"But what about Brazil? I know how much you wanted to go there."_

"_Harry, look at me." _Hercules said, as he always did when he wanted to convey a message that was especially important. _"Brazil is just a place. You however, are far, far, more important."_

Harry nodded and cuddled into Hercules. Something then occurred to him. _"Can we trust Hagrid?" _he asked.

Hercules thought for a few minutes before replying. _"Hagrid seems to be a good person and holds no malice towards you." _he said finally. _"However, he seems to be the type of person to be easily manipulated. It's this Dumbledore person Hagrid was talking about that I really don't trust. Something about him seems…off. According to Hagrid, he was the one behind you being placed with those…things…that call themselves your relatives. And Hagrid also told us that this Dumbledore person said that there might be some trouble getting you your letters. I don't know whether that means anything or not, as we WERE moving around a lot and he may have been talking about that, but my instincts tell me there's something more to all this. And I always listen to my instincts, especially where you're concerned. " _He could feel Harry's fear and coiled closer. _"Harry, it's going to be okay. I'm going to protect you. Right now, all I have are vapors anyway. I just wanted to warn you so you'd know to be on your guard." _

"_It's not that!" _Harry cried, clinging tighter to the snake. _"I'm scared that they'll- either Voldemort or this Dumbledore guy- will hurt YOU! Or worse! Please, Hercules, please don't put yourself in danger for me! I'm not that im-"_

Hercules cut Harry off. _"Harry, don't you dare ever tell me you're not important again, because you are!" _he scolded. He then softened his tone. _"Harry, I love you and I'm going to make sure you're safe, whether you want me to or not." _Harry opened his mouth to protest and Hercules stopped him again. _"This is my choice, hatchling, not yours."_

"_I don't want to lose you Hercules. I love you and I don't want you to get hurt or…" _Harry couldn't finish the sentence. _"Please, just promise me you'll be careful!"_

"_That much, I can promise." _Hercules said soothingly. _"Harry, I will be careful and I plan on sticking around for a long time. But I'm not going to stop protecting you when you need it."_

Harry burrowed into the snake's scales without another word, but Hercules could feel his gratitude. Gently, he shifted so that both he and Harry were in a more comfortable position. _"We should sleep." _he told Harry softly. _"We need to be rested for whatever happens tomorrow." _Harry nodded, removing his glasses and cuddling into the snake again. Hercules nudged the(slightly smelly) coat that was discarded near them. There _were _mice in the pockets and Hagrid just might find a few missing tomorrow.

It took awhile, but eventually both snake and child were asleep, hoping tomorrow would go well.

**Author's Note( PLEASE READ!)**

**Yes, yes, I know. Probably a few of you are pissed at me for bringing Hagrid instead of a more responsible teacher to introduce Harry to the Wizarding World. My reasoning is that the teachers like McGonagall, Sprout, and Flitwick didn't know there was a problem with getting the letters to Harry, and there's no way in H E double hockey sticks that Dumbledore would let Snape or Quirrell do it, even if either of them knew. And despite the fact that Hagrid can be bumbling and forgetful, and has a lack of discretion(and common sense) he means well and does genuinely care for Harry. Had he known Dumbledore's true plans, Dumbledore would probably be dead. Hagrid is not involved in Dumbledore's plot BY CHOICE.**

**Had to edit this and chapter 3 a little. Thank you to Phantom Trainer and Kovy Closet Romantic for telling me that Portkeys were soundless.**

**Oh, and about the whole Voldemort thing, what Hagrid said wasn't the truth, but he wasn't lying. A virtual cookie of any flavor to whoever guesses the answer of this riddle.**


	5. Diagon Alley, Discoveries, and Malfoys

A Familiar's Intuition

**Hi all! Once again, thank you everyone for your wonderful reviews!**

Diagon Alley, Discoveries, and Malfoys

It was just past sunrise when Hagrid awoke, which was unusual for the half-giant as he was not an early riser, preferring to sleep until the sun was high in the sky. Rolling over, he checked on Harry and his snake. Both were sound asleep on top of his coat; the snake lightly coiled around Harry, who was snuggling into the boa constrictor, arms wrapped around its neck. Hagrid smiled and went out to gather some firewood.

A few minutes later, when Hagrid returned with a huge armful of firewood(probably enough for ten fires instead of just one), the snake was awake, watching him carefully as he built the fire, but not moving a muscle, probably not wanting to wake Harry. He really did have to ask Harry the snake's name when he woke up…

After getting the fire lit(he had to resort to using his umbrella), he pulled out a package of sausages from his coat and began roasting them. Harry could use a good, square meal; he was as thin as a rail. After taking him to Diagon Alley today, Hagrid would bring Harry to Hogwarts; there was no doubt he needed a check-up from Madam Pomphrey, plus Hagrid was sure Harry would appreciate a hot shower and a warm bed. Hagrid would talk to Dumbledore while Harry was with Poppy and they'd find Harry a loving, permanent home. Maybe, Hagrid mused, he could adopt Harry himself. Deep down, he knew the Ministry would never let him, not after he was expelled for causing Myrtle's death, even though he had been framed and had the evidence to prove it.

Hagrid wiped tears from his eyes. He had loved Myrtle, still did in fact. They had been close friends and had even gone a few dates to Hogsmeade together. He had wanted to ask her to be his girlfriend, but never got the chance. Why did people think he and Aragog had killed her? They knew how much Hagrid had liked her, the other students teasing him about him and 'Moaning Myrtle'(a horrible nickname the students had given her, even before she became a ghost) being together. And Aragog would have never killed her, or anyone else. Being Hagrid's bonded familiar, Aragog would never hurt someone Hagrid cared about. Plus, Myrtle had not had a scratch on her body when she died, something that would not be the case if an actomantula had attacked her.

Hagrid's mind went back to those horrible few days between Myrtle's death and his expulsion. A scream from the girl's bathroom which made him run in to investigate, and a student(Hagrid couldn't remember who no matter how hard he tried, only that the student was male) trying to resuscitate Myrtle, who was collapsed on the ground. "She's not breathing and I can't feel a pulse! Hagrid, go get help!" the student had yelled. Hagrid had run as fast as he could, tears blurring his vision, but by the time he had arrived with help, Myrtle was gone. He was completely hysterical, as was the other student, and both had to be forcibly led to the hospital wing for a calming draught. A few days later, Headmaster Dippet and Tom Riddle had marched to the Gryffindor Common room and made him go to the cupboard Aragog was hiding in and open it. He then accused Hagrid of opening the Chamber Of Secrets and releasing Slytherin's monster, petrifying students and killing Myrtle. Hagrid had protested that Aragog had nothing to do with it, trying to shield the spider from them. Aragog, who had learned to speak English over the last several months had also proclaimed his and Hagrid's innocence.

"I did not kill her! I wouldn't! She's Hagrid's friend! Why would either of us have any reason to harm her? And actomantulas CANNOT petrify people! Why are you accusing us of doing something we clearly didn't do?" Aragog had yelled at the Headmaster.

Despite the logic of Aragog's argument, Dippet still hadn't believed them and expelled Hagrid on the spot. Myrtle too, now a ghost, had tried to defend them, saying she knew Hagrid had not been responsible for her death, he'd never do that. But due to the fact that she could not remember the last twenty four hours of her life, she was not believed either. Only Dumbledore, bless his heart, had kept Aragog from being killed. Dumbledore had also convinced Dippet to train Hagrid for the groundskeeper job and for that Hagrid was eternally grateful.

The smell of burning sausage pulled Hagrid from his thoughts just in time for him to realize that one of his sausages was on fire. Yelping, he threw it to the ground and started trying to stamp it out. Unsurprisingly, this woke up Harry.

…..

Harry was slightly panicked when he woke up to loud thumping sounds, thinking he was in his cupboard again and that Uncle Vernon was banging on his door. The touch of Hercules' scales disproved that fear, and he relaxed. _"What's going on?" _he asked groggily.

"_Oh, Hagrid set a cooked piece of meat on fire and is trying to put it out in the most annoying way possible." _Hercules replied, slightly irritated. Neither had gotten much sleep, and the stomping was NOT pleasant to feel. Harry just stroked the snake soothingly.

Hagrid finally got the sausage fire out, and turned to look at Harry and Hercules. "Mornin' Harry!" he said cheerfully. "Sorry about wakin' yeh; wasn' payin' enough attention to the fire. Here, have a sausage, the ones I didn' set on fire aren' bad. And I wouldn' say no to a bit o' your birthday cake either." He handed over a few of the sausages over to Harry. Harry hesitated, unsure about taking food from a complete stranger, and looked at Hercules, who nodded. "Thank you." Harry told Hagrid, taking the sausages.

Hagrid watched as Harry quietly ate his breakfast. The child was a Parselmouth, there was no doubt about it. He had heard Harry speak to the snake last night, but had forgotten to even mention it with everything else going on. He didn't hold any stock in the whole "Parselmouths are evil" nonsense; for heaven's sake, it was just talking to an animal, he did that all the time with Aragog! You-Know-Who may have had the ability, but that didn't mean the ability itself was evil. And little Harry would never turn bad, there was no chance of that. But should he tell Harry about You-Know-Who being known for the ability? No, he decided. The child had been through enough, he wouldn't add that to the list.

Hagrid then noticed Harry was looking at him curiously, probably wondering why he was being stared at. "Yer familiar, what's his name?" Hagrid asked quickly.

"Hercules." Harry said quietly, after a quick glance to the snake to make sure it was okay. Then even more quietly, "What's a familiar, sir?"

"Not sir, it's Hagrid." Hagrid corrected gently. "An' a familiar is a creature- either magical or non-magical, doesn' matter- that bonds to yer magical core." Harry just looked confused, so Hagrid decided to elaborate. "Did yeh see a flash when yeh touched him for the first time? And do yeh sense each other's feelings at times?" Harry and Hercules nodded to both. "Hercules here is yer bonded familiar, Harry."

_That explains why I knew Harry was in trouble at the zoo. And how I found him. _Hercules thought. He wondered what else the bond could do. With everything going on he needed as much help and information as he could.

Harry thought about what he had been told for a few minutes then gathered his courage to ask another question. Hagrid seemed happy to answer his questions, but old habits die hard. "S-Hagrid? Do all wizards have familiars? Do you?"

"Not all wizards have familiars, Harry. Takes something' special, a connection with animals that not everybody has. But yes, I have a familiar too." Hagrid grinned at this. "'is name's Aragog, he's an actomantula. I'll have to take yeh to meet 'im sometime."

"What's an actomantula?" Harry asked. Something about the name sounded kind of deadly.

"A really big spider, about' as tall as me." Hagrid said proudly. Noticing that both Harry and Hercules looked rather nervous, he hastened to add. "Bu' really friendly if he likes yeh. Kin speak English too."

Deciding not to think about that for the moment, Harry reached for a piece of his birthday cake. It was slightly stale, but one of the best things he ever tasted. "This is really good." he murmured.

Hagrid grinned. "Yer Mum loved chocolate, too."

Harry's eyes lit up. This was the first time he heard anything about his parents beyond the lies and insults the Dursleys had spouted. Maybe if he asked really nicely, Hagrid would tell him more later.

Hagrid got up suddenly. "Well, we'd better get goin'. Get yer books and all that from Diagon Alley."

"May Hercules come with me?" Harry asked, remembering Hercules' advice from last night.

"O' course! He is yer bonded familiar after all." Hagrid said cheerfully. He lifted the big snake in his arms, receiving a surprised hiss from Hercules. "Sorry big feller, we're traveling by portkey, and we don' want to leave yer tail behind." He pulled out a stale dog treat from his pocket which Harry looked at in confusion and Hercules in disgust. "Yeh just reach out and touch it." Hagrid instructed. Harry obeyed. "Diagon Alley!" Hagrid called.

The next second, Harry felt a pulling sensation around his navel. A second later his feet hit concrete and only Hagrid grabbing his arm kept him from falling to the ground. Hercules too looked a little disoriented. Harry looked around at the empty alleyway. "This is Diagon Alley?"

Hagrid shook his head. "Not quite. Everyone has to land here to keep from getting' the attention of any muggles."

"What are muggles?" Harry asked.

"Non-magical folks. It'd be breakin' the Statuette of Secrecy if they saw us. Non-magical folks can't know about us witches and wizards."

Harry nodded. Based on the Dursleys' reaction to him, he could understand why.

Hagrid pulled Harry out of the alleyway and down a street towards a pub that read: The Leaky Cauldron. Some people gave them strange looks, Hagrid WAS twice as tall as anyone else, not to mention carrying a very big snake. "This is it." Hagrid said once they reached the building. "The Leaky Cauldron. It's a famous place."

It was small and grubby looking, not the kind of place Harry would consider 'famous'(not that he had been very many places in the first place). Harry also noticed that the "muggles" were paying it no mind, looking at only the two shops near it. Were he and Hagrid the only people on the street that could see it? Before he could ask, Hagrid pulled them inside and gently set Hercules down, for some reason keeping his body between the snake and the patrons. Everyone in the bar seemed to know Hagrid. They waved and smiled, and the bartender reached for a glass saying, "The usual, Hagrid?"

"Can't, Tom. I'm on Hogwarts business." Hagrid said, putting his hand, surprisingly gently, on Harry's shoulder.

"Good Lord," said the bartender, peering at Harry. "Is this-can this be-?"

The entire pub went still and silent, everyone staring at a nervous Harry.

"Bless my soul." the old bartender whispered. "Harry Potter…what an honor."

Suddenly he rushed out from behind the bar and seized Harry's hand, oblivious to Harry's flinch. "Welcome back, Mr. Potter. Welcome back."

Harry didn't know what to do. Everyone's eyes were burning into his skull. He fought down the overwhelming urge to run and looked at Hagrid and Hercules. Hagrid was smiling, but his eyes looked worried. Hercules, half hidden behind Hagrid, locked eyes with Harry sending silent comfort.

All the sudden, chairs were scraping against the floor and the next moment Harry found himself surrounded by a swarm of people. Terrified, Harry backed up quickly, but tripped, falling backwards. Still they came towards him…

And then Hercules was in front of him, hissing angrily, acting as a shield between him and the group of people vying for his attention. _"Can't you see you're scaring him? Leave him alone!" _the enraged boa constrictor hissed. People shrieked and jumped back, some of them reaching for what looked like sticks.

"B-back away from him. H-he's scared. L-leave him alone!" a voice demanded. Despite the stutter and nervous tone, there was somehow a calm authority behind it that made Harry relax just a little bit. A pale man that looked almost as frightened as Harry was walked up from his seat at the end of the bar and stepped between the crowd and Harry and Hercules.

"But-the snake…" someone said with a shaking voice.

"M-must be h-his b-bonded f-familiar." The man smiled nervously. "N-no p-problem t-there, r-right?"

There were disgruntled murmurs in the crowd, but they dispersed, some still giving Hercules suspicious looks.

Someone reached out from behind Harry, grasping his underarms and gently lifting him to his feet. Harry flinched slightly before turning and realizing that it was just Hagrid.

"T-thanks." Harry said shakily, both to Hagrid and the stranger that had helped them. Hercules nodded, not taking his eyes off the stranger. "Y-you're w-welcome." the man stammered, fidgeting nervously.

Hagrid gave the stranger a grateful smile. "Thank you, Professor Quirrell." he said. "Harry, Professor Quirrell will be one of your teachers at Hogwarts."

"P-pleased to m-meet y-you, Mr. P-Potter." Professor Quirrell stammered, lightly grasping Harry's hand in his own.

"What magic do you teach, sir?" Harry asked quietly, so quietly that both men had to strain to hear him.

"D-Defense Against the D-D-Dark Arts." Professor Quirrell muttered, looking like he'd rather not think about it. "You'll be g-getting all your equipment, I suppose. I've g-got to p-pick up a new b-book on vampires, m-myself." He looked terrified at the very thought.

Hagrid realized he had dropped his umbrella in the confusion and walked away to pick it up, leaving Harry alone with Professor Quirrell for a few seconds. "Y-you're a P-Parselmouth, aren't you." It wasn't a question. "Parselmouth?" Harry asked. "Snake speaker." Quirrell elaborated, surprisingly without his stutter. Harry nodded. Hercules wrapped around him gently, eyes focused on Quirrell. Quirrell locked eyes with Harry. "That's a good ability to have. A _very _good ability." Was it Harry's imagination, or had Quirrell's eyes gone red for a few seconds?

Hagrid was walking back, umbrella in hand. Quirrell broke eye contact with Harry. "B-Better get t-that b-book." Professor Quirrell said, his stutter returning. He gently shook Harry's hand again. "S-See you in D-D-Defense." Quirrell stammered before walking away.

"Must get on- lots ter buy. Come along, Harry." Hagrid said. He led Harry and Hercules through the bar and out into a small courtyard.

Harry was still trying to figure out the reason for Professor Quirrell's strange behavior. "Is he always that nervous?" he blurted out.

Hagrid nodded. "Oh, yeah. Poor bloke. Brilliant mind. He was fine while he was studying' out of books, but then he took a year off ter get some first hand experience… They say he met some vampires in the Black Forest, and there was a nasty bit o' trouble with a hag- never been the same since. Scared of his students- scared of his own subject… now where's me umbrella?"

"_It wasn't nerves." _Hercules said grimly. _"What?" _Harry said, confused and a little scared. _"Quirrell." _Hercules told him. _"He wasn't scared. Snakes can sense fear and there was no fear in him. And he's a speaker too. I can tell by his scent." _

"_Why didn't he talk to you or anything?" _Harry asked.

"_I think he's hiding something. I don't know what or why, but there's something he wants to keep from everyone, so he's only acting nervous, probably to keep others from becoming suspicious."_

"_Do you think it's something bad?" _Harry questioned, truly afraid now. Was this someone who would be a threat to him or Hercules?

"_I don't know." _Hercules admitted. _"I didn't sense any malice directed at any of us; in fact he seemed concerned for us. I'm not sure what he's hiding or how serious it is, but I don't think he wants to hurt us."_

"Stand back, you two." Hagrid said, pulling both out of their conversation. They did, and he tapped a brick on the wall three times. Harry and Hercules watched in amazement as the brick Hagrid had touched moved, a small hole forming in the middle and growing until it became an archway big enough to even accommodate Hagrid. The second the three stepped/slithered through, the archway shrank until it was a solid wall again.

The first shop Harry noticed had a sign out front that read: Cauldrons-All Sizes- Copper, Brass, Pewter, Silver- Self Stirring- Collapsible. "You'll be needin' one of those." Hagrid said. "but we gotta get yer money first."

Harry stopped dead in the middle of the alley, which caused Hercules to bump into the back of his legs. "Hagrid, I don't have any money." he told the giant. Why hadn't he thought about that sooner? And what would he do now? Maybe Hagrid would let them go, and Harry and Hercules could get back to their journey…

Hagrid mentally smacked himself. Yet another thing he had forgotten to tell the child. "Harry, yer parents left plenty o' money to yeh. D'yeh think they left you nothing?" Then he actually did smack himself in the head. Of course Harry had thought they left him nothing! Look at how he had been treated and how little he knew about the magical world! Merlin, why did he keep forgetting things?

"But if their house was destroyed-"

"They didn' keep their gold in the house, Harry. They kept it here at Gringotts," Hagrid pointed to a white building in the distance. "Wizard's bank. Run by goblins."

Harry was stunned. "Goblins?"

"Yeah, so yeh'd be mad t' rob a place like that. Never mess with goblins, Harry. Gringotts is the safest place in the world fer anything yeh want to keep safe, 'cept for Hogwarts of course. Gotta make a stop at Gringotts meself to pick up something' for Dumbledore. Hogwarts business." Hagrid smiled proudly. "He usually gets me to do important stuff fer him. Fetchin' you- getting' things from Gringotts- knows he can trust me, see."

"_Why is he telling us this? Especially in a crowded area?" _Harry asked Hercules. Hercules gave the snake's equivalent of a shrug. He was trying to figure that out himself.

As they walked towards the white building, Harry and Hercules looked around in awe at the shops with strange items; robes, spell books, telescopes, barrels filled with what was labeled Bat Spleens, and Eel's Eyes(both were slightly disgusted at that) and strange metal instruments Harry couldn't even name. So much different from the world Harry had known for the past ten years- and yet, he felt like he belonged here. Many of the shoppers gave them strange looks, and Hercules a wide berth, but Harry did his best to ignore this. At least it was better then being swarmed.

They reached Gringotts, a large white building which towered over all the other shops. Outside it, in a scarlet and gold uniform sat what must be a goblin, who bowed to them as they walked inside.

After they passed through the second set of doors(on which was engraved a poem which would probably make the most daring of thieves think twice before robbing the bank) they approached a counter behind which near a hundred goblins were working. "Morning." Hagrid said to a free goblin. "We've come ter take some money outta Mr. Potter's vault.

"You have his key, sir?" the goblin asked.

"Got it in here somewhere." Hagrid said, emptying his pockets right on the counters. A handful of moldy dog biscuits landed on the goblin's book of numbers which made both the goblin and Hercules give near-identical looks of distaste.

After emptying nearly all the contents of his pockets(the goblin did NOT look amused about having his counter covered in debris), Hagrid finally announced, "Got it!" and handed over a small gold key, which the goblin examined. "This seems to be in order." he said after a minute.

"_If this vault belongs to you, why does Hagrid have your key?" _Hercules wondered aloud.

"_I don't know." _Harry told him. Why did Hagrid have his key? Granted, it might have been a good thing; the Dursleys probably would have stolen it from him otherwise, but bank accounts were supposed to be extremely secure. Why would someone Harry hadn't known for even a full day have the one thing that would get access into Harry's bank vault? Not that he believed Hagrid would ever steal from him, but still…

The goblin blinked at the use of Parseltongue inside the bank, but otherwise showed no other visible reaction. He had only heard the snake language used once before in the last hundred years.

"An' I got a letter here from Professor Dumbledore," said Hagrid importantly, throwing out his chest. "It's about the You-Know-What in vault seven hundred and thirteen." Hercules noticed that Hagrid's eyes seemed to be slightly glazed over and that he didn't quite sound like the Hagrid they had met in the cave. He decided to keep observing and mention this to Harry later if it continued.

"_If he's trying to keep a secret, he's doing a pretty poor job of it." _Hercules muttered to Harry, who nodded. As long as it didn't affect him and Hercules, Harry couldn't care less about what was in vault seven hundred and thirteen.

"Very well." the goblin said after reading the letter. For some reason, he didn't look too pleased. "I will have someone take you to both vaults. Griphook!"

Another goblin walked up to them. After Hagrid stuffed everything back in his pockets, they followed Griphook down the hall to a door. As Griphook opened the door, Harry saw what looked like an underground mine shaft, complete with little railway tracks going steeply downward. Griphook whistled and a little cart shot up the tracks to meet them. Harry got in first, and Hagrid lifted Hercules, gently placing him in Harry's lap. Hercules curled up into a tight ball to accommodate Hagrid and Griphook as they got in(Hagrid with some difficulty) and then they were off.

Harry clung to Hercules tightly as they shot through a maze of twisting passages. Was this what a roller coaster was like? Hercules coiled so tight it was almost painful; it was obvious the snake didn't like the ride. Harry wasn't sure if he did either. A burst of fire came from one of the passages they passed. "What was that?" he asked.

"Oh, that was just one of our dragons." Griphook said, a little bit too casually. "They guard our high security vaults." His grin was fierce, making Harry a little unnerved.

"Blimey, I'd like a dragon. Wanted one ever since I was a kid." Hagrid mumbled to Harry, making Hercules and Griphook, who had overheard, give him a weird look.

The cart stopped outside a small passageway, which Harry was thankful for as Hagrid looked like he was going to be sick. _"That was…not pleasant." _Hercules grumbled as Harry and a rather shaky Hagrid helped him out of the cart.

Griphook unlocked the door while they were recovering. A lot of green smoke blew out. After it cleared, Harry took a look inside and gasped. Inside were mounds of gold coins. Mounds of silver. Heaps of tiny bronze ones.

"All yours." Hagrid said, smiling.

All his? If the Dursleys knew about all of this, they would have taken it from Harry faster than he could blink. They had always complained about how much it cost to keep him. And all this time, he had a small fortune buried underneath London!

Hagrid helped Harry pile some of it into a bag. "The gold ones are galleons." he explained. "Seventeen of these silver ones, sickles, to a galleon and twenty nine of these bronze coins, Knuts, to a sickle, it's easy enough."

Not really. Thankfully, Harry had always been good at math, although he had to hide it from the Dursleys. They'd punish him if he ever did better than Dudley… Hercules nudged him, asking if he was okay, and Harry nodded, forcing a smile.

"Right, that should be enough fer a couple o' terms." Hagrid said, breaking Harry out of his thoughts. "We'll keep the rest safe for yeh." He turned to Griphook. "Vault seven hundred and thirteen please, and can we go a little more slowly?"

"One speed only." said Griphook.

They were gathering speed now, the air growing colder and colder as they hurtled around tight corners. Harry shivered and clung tighter to Hercules.

Vault seven hundred and thirteen had no keyhole. "Stand back." Griphook told them as he stroked the door with his long fingers. To Harry's surprise, it simply melted away. "If anyone other than a Gringotts goblin tried that, they'd be sucked through the door and trapped."

"How often do you check to see if anyone's inside?" Harry whispered, so quietly that the goblin barely heard him.

"About once every ten years." Griphook said with a rather nasty grin as Harry backed slightly away from the door.

Hagrid scooped up the only thing in the vault; a grubby brown package lying on the floor. Then they were off again.

After the wild cart ride, they were back to the front entrance of Gringotts. "Thank you for all your help." Harry told Griphook, who blinked in surprise before nodding.

"Might as well get yer uniform." Hagrid said once they had exited Gringotts. He nodded toward Madam Malkin's Robes For All Occasions. "Listen, Harry, would yeh mind if I slipped off fer a pick-me-up in the Leaky Cauldron? I hate them Gringotts carts." He did still look a bit sick, so Harry nodded and nervously walked into the shop with Hercules.

"Hogwarts, dear?" a smiling young woman who looked to be in her mid-twenties asked as he walked in. The gentle tone made him relax a little and he nodded. She looked startled for a second when she saw Hercules, but then smiled again. "Oh, that's sweet!" she said. She then whispered to him, "My little nephew's a Parselmouth too."

Harry blushed and looked at his feet.

"I'll get you all set up in a minute. There's another young man getting fitted up just now in fact."

She led Harry to the back of the shop, where a boy with a pale pointed face and blond hair was standing on a footstool with a friendly-looking witch dressed in all mauve was pinning up his long black robes.

"Just stand up here." the witch with Harry instructed, pointing to a stool next to the boy. Harry obeyed. "Now where did I put that robe? And those pins? Excuse me a minute." She walked away towards the front of the store.

"Hello." the blond boy said. "Hogwarts too?"

"Yes." Harry answered shyly.

The boy noticed Hercules. "Wow! That snake is huge! Are you a Parselmouth or something?" The witch doing the blond boy's robes did a double take and gasped, accidentally pricking the boy with a pin which of course caused an "Ouch! Careful with those!" The witch mumbled an apology and continued her work, keeping one eye on the snake.

Harry nodded.

"Well, you don't have to be so shy about it. That's awesome!" the boy told him. "Where are my manners? I'm Malfoy. Draco Malfoy." He held out his hand.

Harry shook it. "I'm Harry Potter. This is Hercules."

Draco looked surprised. "Nice to meet you both." he said after a minute. "So you're THE Harry Potter? Wow, are people going to be surprised when they find out YOU'RE a Parselmouth." Noticing he had made Harry nervous, Draco changed the subject. "My father's next door buying my books and mother's up the street looking at wands. Then I'm going to drag them off to look at racing brooms. You want to come too?"

Completely confused, but wanting to make his first human friend, Harry nodded. "S-sure." Wow, he sounded like Quirrell today…

"You're a lot shyer then I thought you'd be." Draco told him. "Do you have your own broom? Play Quidditch at all?"

Harry just shook his head. What was Quidditch?

"_I _do. I'm going to try out for my house team second year. I want to be a Seeker, or maybe a Chaser. Know what house you'll be in yet?"

Harry shook his head again, feeling stupid. "N-no." He decided to come right out and ask. "Draco? What's Quidditch and what are the houses?"

Draco was stunned. He was just opening his mouth to answer when the young woman came back. "Sorry, dear! It took forever to find those pins!" She pulled the robe over his head and began pinning it to the correct length.

Draco used the distraction to think of what to say. Where had Harry Potter been the last ten years that he had no clue what Quidditch was or even what the houses were? How to ask without making Harry upset…

"Didn't anyone tell you?" Draco blurted out, then mentally smacked himself on the head. _Way to be dignified, Draco…._

Harry shook his head. "I just found out I was a wizard last night." he mumbled, looking down at his feet.

Draco's eyes widened, his mind racing. How could Harry Potter not even know he was a wizard? Wouldn't someone had told him something, anything? He WAS one of the most famous people in the wizarding world…

"Where have you been? Were you with muggles or something?" Again, Draco could have smacked himself. Why couldn't he engage his brain before his mouth?

Harry's eyes were glued to the floor. Miserably, he nodded. "M-my aunt and uncle…"

Draco suddenly remembered a conversation he had heard between his parents when they thought he wasn't listening a few years ago.

_Flashback:_

_Draco had woken up in the middle of the night and gotten out of bed to use the bathroom. As he passed his parents' bedroom, he heard them speaking in hushed voices. Curiosity overcoming him, he stopped to listen at the keyhole._

"_Did you find out where Harry might be yet?" his mother asked._

_His father sighed. "No, Cissy. We've been searching for years and I've asked everywhere. Whoever knows, they either can't or won't tell. It's like that little boy just disappeared off the face of the earth."_

"_Do- do you think Dumbledore may have placed him with his muggle relatives?" his mother asked, her voice trembling for some reason._

"_Merlin, I hope not." his father sighed. "I've heard of how badly Petunia treated Lily. To leave a magical child with people like that…. But I'm afraid it's looking more and more like the case. Unless Dumbledore has him hidden in some secret cell that he hasn't even told Sev about… But I seriously doubt that."_

"_Lily and James would be rolling around in their graves right now." his mother said sadly. "We promised them we'd take care of him and we failed at that."_

"_Cissa, we've done everything we can." his father said. "I'll try to find them through muggle records, but I'm sure Dumbledore covered all those bases. We'll have to wait until he comes to Hogwarts."_

"_But… We can't just give up!" his mother protested. _

"_We aren't." his father said firmly. "There's nothing else we can do right now. Harry Potter WILL come to Hogwarts; I know Dumbledore wouldn't have it any other way. We'll try to get into contact with him then… I just hope he isn't too lost…"_

_Draco accidentally stepped too hard on a floorboard, making it creak, and he rushed away before his parents could catch him eavesdropping._

_End Flashback_

Draco snapped out of his flashback, noticing Harry was still looking down despondently, with Hercules hissing something to him. He wanted to ask how the muggles had treated him, but definitely didn't want to say it in front of the seamstresses. He'd pull him aside and ask later. If there WAS a problem, he'd tell his parents. They'd be able to help. But for right now, he needed to cheer up his new friend.

"Hey, Harry, it's not that bad. A lot of kids are muggle-raised, and don't know much either. But I'm a pureblood and I can help you." Harry looked at him with relief and Draco smiled proudly. "The houses are Gryffindor, Hufflepuff, Ravenclaw, and Slytherin. Gryffindor is for the courageous, but Uncle Sev says that with a few exceptions, that most of them are rash and reckless, always jumping into stupid situations that could have been avoided if they had used their brains. Hufflepuff is for the loyal and hardworking, Ravenclaw is for the studious ones who seek knowledge more than anything else, and Slytherin is for those with ambition and cunning, the ones who really want to get somewhere in life and will do whatever they can to achieve it."

"What house will I be in?" Harry asked. "No one's told me."

"No one really knows until they get there." Draco answered with a shrug. "I'm pretty sure I'll be in Slytherin; my whole family has been. I hope you're in there with me; it's the best house by far. Ravenclaw and Hufflepuff are pretty good too. I don't think Gryffindor is a good match for you; you're kind of shy and I can tell you're not reckless."

"Thanks. For telling me about the houses and everything." Harry told him, to which Draco grinned.

Hercules watched the exchange. He hadn't been sure at first, but Draco seemed like a fairly nice child and good for Harry. Harry certainly seemed happy to have a new friend and that was good enough for Hercules.

"I say, look at that man!" Draco said suddenly, nodding towards the front window. Hagrid was standing there, grinning at Harry, and pointing at two large ice cream cones to show he couldn't come in.

"That's Hagrid. The Hogwarts gamekeeper." Harry said, smiling. "He's really nice."

Draco nodded. "I think I've heard about him before." He didn't want to tell Harry some of the things he heard, however. Harry clearly liked the man and he didn't want to lose his friend over some rumors that might not even be true in the first place.

"That's you done, my dear." the witch working on Harry's robes said. Harry hopped off the footstool and waited. After a minute, the other witch said, "All finished, Mr. Malfoy." and Draco stepped down to join Harry.

"My parents should be coming any- Oh here they are now!" Draco forced himself to walk at a dignified pace, grabbing Harry by the hand and leading him over to his parents. Hercules followed behind.

Mr. Malfoy looked a lot like Draco. Harry could tell they were related. Mrs. Malfoy was a beautiful, blond, dignified looking woman. She smiled when they approached. "Hello, Draco. Who's your friend?"

"Mother, Father, this is Harry Potter and- he's your familiar, right?-" Both Harry and Hercules nodded. "And his familiar, Hercules."

"Hello, Mr. Malfoy. Mrs. Malfoy." Harry said shyly.

Mr. Malfoy nodded. "Hello, Mr. Potter, Hercules. You're Draco's friend, so please call me Lucius." he said formally, shaking Harry's hand.

Mrs. Malfoy was less formal. "Hello, Harry." she said, lightly grasping his hand. "Call me Narcissa. I was a friend of your mother's. You have her eyes, you know. And it's nice to meet you too, Hercules."

Harry blushed and looked down. Mrs. Malfoy was so pretty and so nice. Had his own mother been like that?

Draco was watching the introductions with some impatience. "I asked Harry if he wanted to come look at racing brooms with me. Can he?"

"Of course." Mr. Malfoy told him.

They walked outside the shop and were greeted by Hagrid. "Hello, Hagrid. What are you doing here?" Mr. Malfoy asked. "Getting Harry here his books an' supplies." Hagrid said, his smile seeming rather fixed. He handed Harry one of the ice cream cones. "What about' you, getting' young Draco here his school supplies?" "Yes." Mrs. Malfoy said with a disarming smile. "Can we join you? Draco is determined to show Harry the latest in new racing brooms." Hagrid looked conflicted, but at last nodded.

"Come on, Harry!" Draco said, grabbing Harry's hand and pulling him in the direction of Quality Quidditch Supplies, making him flinch slightly and nearly drop his ice cream. Hercules slithered quickly behind, making a random shopper yelp and run in the opposite direction.

"Slow down!" Lucius called. Draco either hadn't heard him or was too excited to listen, as he kept right on going. The adults followed at a more sedate pace.

Narcissa was watching Harry, worry building up inside her. The child's clothes were ragged and several sizes too big for him, and he was skinny. Too skinny. And she had noticed the flinch when Draco touched him suddenly. Had their worst fears been realized?

"Look Harry!" Draco said in awe. "The Nimbus Two Thousand… The fastest broom ever…" He gave his father puppy dog eyes. "Father, may I…"

"Second Year, Draco." Lucius said sternly, but hiding a smile. His son loved Quidditch as much as he did and was a natural at flying. He knew Draco would get a spot on the Quidditch team, and by that time, there would probably be an even better broom out. He'd get it for his son as a surprise then.

Draco pouted slightly but didn't argue. He pulled Harry around the store, showing him all the Quidditch equipment and explaining the use of each item. Hercules followed, trying not to knock over the Quaffle display.

"Cissa?" Lucius asked, pulling her aside. "Did you notice what I noticed?"

"If you mean that Harry is wearing clothes that qualify as rags, is skinnier than a rail, and flinches whenever someone moves too fast, yes." Narcissa murmured, wringing her hands. "And I think Hagrid noticed too, by how worried he looks. His familiar as well."

"Severus looked just like that when he was in First Year." Lucius whispered.

"I know." Narcissa sighed. "Should we talk to Harry or ask Hagrid first?"

"Probably talk to Harry." Lucius told her. "Hagrid won't be able to tell us anything we don't already know."

After they were finally able to drag Draco out of Quality Quidditch Supplies, they stopped for parchment and quills. Narcissa found a instructional book for Harry when he admitted, embarrassed, that he had no idea how to write with a quill. Next stop was Flourish and Blotts.

Harry felt a tap on his shoulder while he was flipping through Magical Drafts And Potions. He jumped about a foot in the air and turned around to see that it was only Draco. "Whoa, easy there, Harry." Draco said. "It's just me. You should get this book," He held up a small yellow book with the title Quidditch Through The Ages. "It has everything you need to know about Quidditch and more." Harry thanked him and took it.

While Harry was occupied getting the rest of his books, Draco pulled his mother aside. "Mum, I think there might be something wrong with Harry. He told me he was living with his muggle aunt and uncle and that he didn't even know he was a wizard until last night. I had to tell him about the houses, he didn't know a thing about any of them. And he's really nervous and jumpy. D-do you think they did something to him?"

Draco's words confirmed Narcissa's worst fears. She wrapped her arms around her son, who squirmed, probably not wanting to be hugged by his mum in a public place. "Sweetheart, I think they might have. Your father and I noticed too. We're going to try to talk to him about it. If this is true, he might be coming home with us."

Hagrid heard them. "It's true." he said brokenly. "I asked and Hercules confirmed it. He was alone in a cave with just his familiar when I found him. Probably ran away. I can't blame 'im fer that." He blew his nose loudly into his hankerchief making some patrons look at him in annoyance. "Lily and James's child…abused. How did we not see it?" He wiped his eyes. Hagrid wasn't sure why he was telling the Malfoys so much, but they seemed genuinely worried about Harry and he needed to get it off of his chest. "I'll be taking him to Hogwarts after this; he needs a check-up, some good meals, and a warm bed." "We can take him." Lucius said, walking over. "If he wants to come with us. Narcissa is a registered Healer and we've applied to become foster parents and been approved. We have everything he needs to get him back into good condition." Narcissa smiled sadly and said. "Hagrid, I know you don't trust us, but for Harry's sake, let us take him and give him a home and a family." Both Draco and Lucius nodded.

Hagrid was reluctant. The Malfoys _were_ a dark family. Would they corrupt or hurt the child? But the tears in Narcissa's eyes, and their words, had been sincere. They may be dark but they did love Draco, and sounded like they truly cared about Harry. He did want Harry to have a loving family. This may not be the family he had in mind and Professor Dumbledore might not like it but…

"All right. But if I ever catch wind of yeh hurting 'im…"

"What's going on?" a soft voice asked. Harry, books in hand and Hercules behind him, came up to them apprehensively.

"Everything's okay, Harry, but can we talk to you and Hercules for a minute?" Narcissa asked softly, putting her hand on his shoulder and frowning when the action caused a slight flinch. Looking scared, Harry nodded, not wanting to refuse and make them angry.

"_Harry, it's okay; I'm right here with you." _Hercules told him.

The Malfoys and Hagrid led Harry and Hercules out of the store and to a quiet area of the Alley where there were a few small benches and tables. Narcissa sat down and patted the seat next to her. "Come sit down, Harry." she said when he hesitated. Nervously he complied, Hercules coiling around his feet and resting his head in Harry's lap. Draco sat next to him, trying not to step on Hercules' tail. Lucius and Hagrid remained standing.

"Harry, we…" Lucius started. Merlin, he could make grand speeches at the Wizengamot with no trouble, but this… this was difficult. "We noticed some things today that are troubling us. We know you've been living with your muggle relatives and we need to know… have they been treating you all right?" He already knew the answer to that question, but to be able to actually do anything, he needed to hear it from the child's mouth.

Harry looked down, not answering, stroking Hercules's scales.

"_Harry, you need to tell them. They can help you, I can feel it." _Hercules told him firmly.

Harry looked up at Lucius and shook his head. "No.' he whispered. "They hate me." The last three words were barely audible. Beside him, Narcissa sniffled.

"Have they ever hurt you?" Lucius asked, as gently as possible.

Harry clung to Hercules, crying softly. After a few minutes, he nodded.

"Oh Harry…" Narcissa murmured, pulling him into a hug. He flinched and then relaxed into it, crying into her robes. Draco, not sure what to do, started to gently rub his back. After a minute, Harry tried to pull away, apologizing, but Narcissa just held him tighter.

"Harry, we'd like to make you an offer. You can accept or refuse, it will always be your choice." Lucius said. Harry looked up at him. "Would you like to stay with us as our foster child? We'll take care of you, and teach you everything we can about the Wizarding World. And Hercules, you are of course welcome to stay with us too."

Harry looked down at his feet, unsure. The Malfoys seemed incredibly nice. But could they be trusted? He never could trust adults before; they always hurt and betrayed him. Hercules had been the only one he could ever truly trust…

"Why?" he asked, his voice trembling. "Why do you want me?"

Lucius and Narcissa glanced at each other. They'd have to choose their words carefully. Harry obviously had a hard time trusting adults and for a good reason.

"Harry, no child should ever have to live in an abusive home. We had a friend go through that and we do not want that happening to another child if we can stop it." Narcissa told him. "Also, Lucius and I have been wanting have a second child for a long time, and I know Draco has always wanted a sibling."

Draco nodded. "Please accept, Harry! We'll have loads of fun together. And I'll even teach you Quidditch!"

Harry looked down at Hercules. _"What do I do? Can I trust them?"_

Hercules thought for a few minutes. The caring and concern the Malfoys had for Harry seemed genuine, and he detected no ulterior motive. And right now with Harry and himself being thrust into a world they knew next to nothing about; they needed all the help they could get.

He looked at Harry. _"I think we should accept. Everything they said today was genuine and they mean us no harm. And with everything going on, we need all the help we can get."_

Harry nodded to his familiar, then looked up at the Malfoys who were curiously watching his conversation with Hercules. "I accept your offer and I'd love to become your foster child. Thank you."

Narcissa smiled and Lucius looked pleased. Draco grinned. "Welcome to the family, Harry. I can't wait to show you around the Manor!"

"Now that everything's settled," Lucius said. "are you two up to getting your potions supplies and wands?"

"I know I am!" Draco said eagerly, jumping up and pulling Harry with him. Hercules hissed in irritation at being suddenly displaced. "Oops, sorry about that Hercules…"

"Potions is the best subject." Draco told Harry as they walked to the Apothecary. "My godfather Sev teaches it. He's really great, but really strict. He expects nothing less than greatness, so you need to come to class prepared. He's been teaching me some of the first year potions."

"Do you think he'd teach me too?" Harry asked softly.

"Of course." Draco assured him. "And don't worry so much, I'm sure you'll do great."

Harry was awed by the Apothecary. There was so many fascinating items that more than made up for the store's terrible smell; jars of unidentifiable herbs, roots, and powders along the wall, bundles of feathers, strings of fangs and claws that made him wonder what kind of animal they had come from(and hoping they weren't from snakes), as well as long silver unicorn horns and beetle's eyes. Draco led him around, chattering about the ingredients and their uses and kindly answering Harry's softly spoken questions. The shop keeper yelped and jumped backward when Hercules stretched up to examine something he clearly found interesting, but thankfully didn't kick them out of the store. Hagrid waited by the entrance(he mumbled a story about knocking down a bunch of expensive potions ingredients when Harry asked why he wasn't joining them)

Lucius and Narcissa helped the boys pick out the potions supplies they'd need for the year and they walked over to the (still shaken) shopkeeper to pay. Harry reached for his coin purse, but Narcissa stopped him with a gentle hand on his.

"We're paying for these, Harry." Harry opened his mouth to protest, but Lucius cut him off.

"Harry, we're going to be your legal guardians at least temporarily, and it's our responsibility to pay for your necessities, not yours. Save your money."

"I can pay you back-" Harry started.

"No need." Lucius asserted, waving his hand. "We have more than enough money, and we want to do this for you. Please let us."

Harry was still unsure, but not wanting to offend his new family, let it go.

A brass telescope as well as a nice set of scales were next on the list, as well as a pewter cauldron, all of which Lucius and Narcissa insisted on paying for. Finally it was time for the most important thing; the wand.

Draco was practically bouncing with excitement as they went into Ollivander's, though he was trying to hide it(and failing miserably). Harry was just nervous, despite Hercules's encouragement.

Harry could practically _feel _the magic in the air in this place. It made the back of his neck prickle. He looked at what must have been the wand boxes and wondered which one would be his.

"Good afternoon." said a soft voice. Both Draco and Harry jumped and Hercules moved in front of Harry protectively, hissing a warning.

"An old man was standing in front of them, his wide, pale eyes shining like moons through the gloom of the shop.

"I'm not going to hurt him, Hercules." the man said pleasantly.

"_What the- How did he…" _Hercules sputtered.

Harry looked at Draco nervously, who muttered, "It's just a wand-maker thing," despite the fact that Draco was a little unnerved himself.

"Ah, Harry Potter, Draco Malfoy." Mr. Ollivander. "I thought I'd be seeing you soon. Now who's first?" Draco and Harry looked at each other, then Draco stepped forward.

"Mr. Ollivander is a Seer." Lucius whispered to Harry and Hercules as they watched Draco try out wands. "He knows and can see things others can't. I'll explain more later. Don't be afraid of him; he's harmless."

Many wands later, Draco came back grinning, clutching his new wand( hawthorn, ten inches, with a unicorn hair core, reasonably pliant). "Your turn." he told Harry, lightly pushing him towards Mr. Ollivander.

"It's nice to see you, Harry Potter." Mr. Ollivander said. Despite Lucius's reassurances, Hercules still kept a watchful eye on the wand-maker from beside Harry's feet. "You have your mother's eyes. It seems like it was only yesterday she was in here herself, buying her first wand. Ten and a quarter inches long, swishy, made of willow. Excellent for charms work. Your father on the other hand, favored a mahogany wand. Eleven inches. Pliable. A bit more power and excellent for Transfiguration. Well, I'd say your father favored it- it's really the wand that chooses the wizard of course."

His stare scared Harry a little. Hercules matched it, silently warning Ollivander not to come any closer.

Ollivander spotted Hagrid and to Harry's relief, turned away.

"Rubeus! Rubeus Hagrid! How nice to see you again… Oak, sixteen inches, rather bendy, wasn't it?

"It was, sir, yes." Hagrid told him.

"Good wand, that one. I suppose they snapped it in half when you got expelled?"

Hagrid nodded, giving a nervous glance to the Malfoys. "Er- yes, they did-" he mumbled, shuffling his feet. "But I kept the pieces!" he added in a brighter tone.

"But you don't use them?" Mr. Ollivander asked sharply.

"No sir!" Hagrid said quickly, grasping tighter to his umbrella. He gave another nervous glance towards the Malfoys.

"_I'll give you three guesses where it is." _Hercules muttered sarcastically.

Mr. Ollivander's attention returned to Harry and like Draco, he was measured and handed many different wands, many being snatched out of his hand before he could even move them. Harry was embarrassed as the wand boxes piled up, but Mr. Ollivander seemed to become happier with each new discarded box.

"Tricky customer, eh? Don't worry, we'll find the perfect match for you. Hmm, I wonder- yes, why not- unusual combination- holly and phoenix feather, eleven inches, nice and supple."

Harry took the wand, feeling a sudden warmth in his fingers. He swished it through the air, and red and gold sparks shot out like a firework, throwing dancing spots of light on the walls. Hagrid whooped and clapped and Draco grinned at him.

"Oh bravo!" Mr. Ollivander cried "Yes, indeed, very good! Well, well, well… how curious… how very curious."

"What?" Harry asked, a little scared. Was there something wrong with his wand?

"I remember every wand I sold, Mr. Potter, every single wand. And the phoenix who's tail feather is in your wand gave another tail feather- just one other."

He pulled Harry to the side. Hercules followed, giving a look that promised pain if Ollivander tried to harm Harry.

"Your wand's brother was given to a boy many years ago, one who came in here with a snake, just like you. The boy became a man who sought for greatness, for a better wizarding world. He continues his quest- from _beyond the grave._"

Harry gulped and moved closer to Hercules.

"Don't forget what I tell you today." Mr. Ollivander commanded. "Beware the bumblebee. He seeks to destroy you and everything you stand for. And your worst enemy is not who you think."

His voice lightened. "You have a good heart and a good spirit. I expect great things from you, Harry Potter."

Harry quickly thanked him and practically ran back to the Malfoys and Hagrid, Hercules right behind him. What did the old wand-maker mean? All he knew was that he was completely terrified and that he'd never forget what he heard. Hercules wasn't much better than he was.

Lucius paid for the wands, and they left, Draco asking Harry what was wrong. Harry just shook his head.

"We're going to Floo home, Harry." Narcissa told him as they stopped in front of a fireplace. "Since this is your first time, Lucius will go with you and Hercules, and I'll be right behind with Draco."

"Hercules, I'm going to have to pick you up so we don't leave you behind." Lucius said. Hercules nodded and coiled around the elder Malfoy. "Now grab my arm, Harry." When Harry complied, Lucius instructed, "I'm going to throw the floo powder in the fireplace, and when I say Malfoy Manor, you jump in with me." Noticing Harry's look of fear, he quickly added. "You're not going to get burned. This is a wizard form of transport and I've done it many times. Ready? One, two, three…" He threw the powder in the fire. "Malfoy Manor!" he shouted. They leaped through the fireplace. After a moment, Narcissa and Draco followed. None noticed the eyes watching them.

"_**The Malfoys have him, Tom." **_Quirinius Quirrell reported. There was a sigh of relief from inside his head. _**"Good. They'll let him know the truth before Dumbledore gets his claws into him."**_

Hogwarts

Hagrid rushed to the Headmaster's office. The gargoyle moved quickly aside without even a password, knowing that in his state, Hagrid could- and probably would- bash right through.

"Ah, Hagrid, my dear boy, what's wrong?" Dumbledore asked, leaning back in his chair, his eyes twinkling.

"It's Harry!" Hagrid cried frantically. "The blasted muggles that call 'hemselves 'is relatives have been abusing 'im! I found 'im hiding in a cave with 'ust his familiar…"

The twinkle in Dumbledore's eyes died, and rage replaced it. "He has a _familiar_?"

Hagrid nearly backed up a step at the look in his mentor's eyes. "Yes, bu' that's not the point…"

Dumbledore looked into Hagrid's eyes, his rage growing at what he learned. "You let him go to the _Malfoys_?" The bumbling oaf! If he didn't act fast, all his plans would be ruined!

For once, Hagrid looked angry with his mentor. "I did what was best fer the child!"

Dumbledore raised his wand. Hagrid was shocked at the pure _evil _in his eyes; something he'd expect from a Death Eater, not the Leader of the Light. Hagrid raised his own, preparing to defend himself.

"Expelliarmus!" Dumbledore shouted. Hagrid's wand was blasted away from him.

"You're lucky I still need you and that it would alarm the brat if you were gone." Dumbledore said with such a calmness that it was far more terrifying than if he shouted. "I'll need to replace your compulsion charms." he pointed his wand between Hagrid's eyes.

"**Obliviate!"**

**So Dumbledore showed his true colors. Too bad Hagrid won't remember this.**

**I know Draco is a little OOC but in my story, his parents raised him differently.**

**Hope you guys liked this chapter! Please review!**

"


	6. First Day At Malfoy Manor And The Truth

A Familiar's Intuition

First Day At Malfoy Manor and Truth Revealed

**Hi all! Thank you so much for your wonderful reviews! **

**Many reviewers asked some very important questions. I'll answer them here before we start the story.**

**1. No, Hagrid's memory has not been as entirely wiped of the incident as you can talk about wiping. Obliviates have their limits and if something triggers Hagrid's memory, he may remember the incident.**

**2. Hagrid is resistant to physical spells, but Obliviate, compulsion charms, and the Imperius Curse are mental spells, things that can only be resisted by those with incredibly strong minds or Occlumency shields. Hagrid cannot occlude his mind very well and therefore was susceptible to the mental spells Dumbledore used.**

**3. Yes, Hercules is very perceptive and will notice Hagrid's strange behavior. Not much escapes that snake's attention. ****J**

**4. Hagrid has been affected by Obliviates, compulsion charms, and had his memory altered many times before. His strange actions at the bank were caused by a compulsion charm placed on him by Dumbledore to make him make a big deal out of the Stone to garner Harry's curiosity. Hagrid has broken out of the memory charms several times, only to make the major mistake of confronting Dumbledore, and being Obliviated again. Dumbledore has used memory charms on several other people, though Dippet was just an idiot.**

….

Hogwarts

Dumbledore kept up the grandfatherly smile as Hagrid left the office. Once the giant was out of sight however, it turned into an angry scowl. He had Obliviated the half-giant of any memory of his… outburst… and that Harry had been abused. Due to some clever memory charms on Dumbledore's part, all Hagrid knew was that he had left young Harry and his familiar at his aunt and uncle's house, and that there had been no problems. The compulsion charms on Hagrid were reinforced, and the Stone would be dangled in front of Harry's nose. Then Dumbledore could see how well Harry played hero. With that information, some subtle manipulation, and maybe a few compulsion charms, Harry would face Voldemort when the man regained, or tried to regain, his body, hopefully weakening him but dying in the attempt. Then Dumbledore would be able to finish Voldemort for good and gain the admiration and power he deserved.

However, the obliviation of Hagrid was only a temporary solution. Lucius was as slippery and clever as his master, and there was no doubt he would attempt to get custody of Harry. With the evidence on his side, he'd most likely succeed and Dumbledore might not be able to stop him, not without turning a vast majority of the Wizarding World against himself. He could work this to his advantage, however. Once he gained the child's trust, he would have a valuable spy to watch the Malfoys' every move and get much needed inside information about the Death Eaters and Voldemort.

The snake, however, would be an obstacle. Familiars were known for being extremely protective of their bonded wizard, as well as being extremely perceptive, and this one was no different. Perhaps he could arrange for something…unfortunate…to happen to the snake, something that could be traced to Voldemort. The rage and pain Harry would feel after losing his familiar would motivate him to get revenge with no concern for himself. And that, of course, would lead to the downfall of both Voldemort and the Boy Who Lived.

Would the Malfoys tell Harry what had really happened to his traitor parents? Probably not, the Malfoys were indulgent and would most likely try to "spare" the child from the knowledge, try to give him a "normal" childhood. And even if they did, one obliviate and Harry would never remember. It wasn't like the brat had any Occlumency shields, after all. No matter what little bumps happened in his plans, Albus Dumbledore would always come out on top. He could out-think, out-plan, or simply get rid of anyone who stood in his way.

Yet, in his arrogance, Dumbledore neglected to remember two things. Pride comes before the fall. And even the best laid plans can crash into a million pieces at your feet.

…...

Malfoy Manor

Lucius steadied Harry as the young boy stumbled upon exiting the Floo. Thankfully he had Floo-traveled enough himself to maintain his own balance, even with a small boy in one hand and a giant snake wrapped around his chest.

Harry noticed the soot covering his robes and falling onto the pristine floor. He started frantically apologizing, and would have raced to clean it up had Lucius not gently grabbed his arm. Harry looked at him with fear in his eyes, expecting a punishment, and Hercules moved closer to Harry, both for comfort and to ensure the older Malfoy did not harm his hatchling. But Lucius simply gave him a small smile and waving his wand, silently banished the soot from their robes, Hercules's scales and the floor.

"This happens all the time with Floo travel." Lucius reassured. "It's one of the best ways to travel, but unfortunately not the cleanest." Harry relaxed slightly, but it was obvious the child was still on his guard. Though he kept it hidden, Lucius wanted to blast something, preferably Harry's horrible relatives. It was obvious they had hurt this little boy for making even the tiniest mess, as evidenced by the fear in Harry's eyes.

The Floo flared to life again, and Lucius pulled Harry aside as Draco and Narcissa entered, more gracefully than the others had. "Welcome to Malfoy Manor, Harry." Narcissa said, smiling.

Draco was eager to show Harry around. "C'mon, Harry! I'll show you the gardens, the Quidditch Pitch and-"

"I think we should have some lunch first." Narcissa commented, cutting off Draco's eager chatter. Draco's stomach rumbled as if on cue. Slightly embarrassed, he nodded.

They noticed that Harry looked a little panicked. He started to run out the door. Hercules rushed after him, concerned. "Whoa, Harry, where are you going?" Draco asked, catching his arm.

Harry flinched a little at the touch. "I'm sorry! I'll make lunch right away!" He realized he had no idea where the kitchen was. "I-I'm sorry, but where's the kitchen?" he asked nervously.

"Harry, what made you think you needed to cook for us?" Lucius asked, leading Harry to the sofa. The child just stood there looking confused. "T-the Dursleys always made me cook." Harry whispered, looking down at his feet.

The elder Malfoys exchanged a look. It was obvious his loathsome relatives had treated the child like a slave, worse than the worst treated house elf.

"Harry, this isn't the Dursleys." Narcissa told him. "You do not need to cook for us. You're our child, not our servant." She gently pulled Harry onto the sofa. For a second, Harry looked panicked and nearly bolted away, but Hercules slithered on the sofa, coiling around Harry and hissing something that sounded like a reassurance.

Lucius nodded. "You don't have to cook here, not unless you really want to. We have house-elves that do our cooking for us."

"And Lottie doesn't really like it when other people try to do her job." Draco chimed in, plopping down next to Harry. He kicked his feet and mumbled, "Not after Dobby and I nearly set the kitchen on fire trying to bake a cake a few years ago."

Narcissa chuckled and reached over Harry to ruffle Draco's hair, which made him duck away, embarrassed. "If you do end up wanting to cook, ask Lottie, not Dobby. Dobby's a good elf, but he cannot cook to save his life." Narcissa's tone turned serious. "We don't want either of you getting hurt or burned when you're in the kitchen. Always have Lottie or one of us with you."

"What are house-elves? And who are Lottie and Dobby?" Harry asked softly. He looked down again. "I'm sorry…"

"Never be sorry for asking a question, Harry." Lucius told him firmly. "And a house-elf is a magical creature that bonds to and serves a wizarding family. They act as housekeepers and protectors, and in return, get the magic they need to survive. Unless you treat them poorly, they are intensely loyal creatures. Lottie and Dobby are two of our house-elves; Lottie is our chef and Dobby does the cleaning and other chores. We have others who work on the grounds. The only thing they can't do is laundry."

"Why?' Harry asked, still in a very quiet tone. Mr. Malfoy may have told him not to be afraid to ask questions, but old habits die hard.

"If their master presents them with clothes, it frees them. And house-elves do NOT want to be freed. It slowly drains their magic and they could die if they don't bond to another family."

Harry was horrified. He'd have to remember not to leave any of his (meager) amount of clothes near the house-elves; he didn't want to hurt them. Hercules felt his panic and squeezed gently to calm him.

"Don't worry." Narcissa reassured. "If anything happens, we can simply re-bond with them."

Harry gave a sigh of relief. Another question occurred to him. "Do they get paid?"

"Only with the magic." Lucius told him. "They consider any other form of payment an insult. They are proud to serve, and they feel payment makes it less meaningful."

"Just be kind to them," Narcissa advised. "That's the only payment they'll ever want. Treat them well, and they're the most loyal things in the world. Treat them badly, and they'll find any loophole to escape your orders. They may have to obey- their magical binding will break if they don't- but they'll find some way to get around it."

Lucius nodded. He had seen many families, including his own parents, mistreat their house-elves, resulting in bitter, uncooperative creatures who followed orders to the letter but not the spirit, which had the possibility of becoming dangerous. Narcissa was of the same mindset as him on this subject. Her cousin's mistreatment of his family's elf had always bitten him in the rear. Treating their own house-elves with respect and kindness had earned Lucius and Narcissa their wholehearted loyalty.

"Would you like to meet Dobby and Lottie?" Narcissa asked. Harry nodded shyly. "Lottie! Dobby!" she called.

With a _pop! _two creatures entered the room, making both Harry and Hercules jump. They were small, only about three feet tall, with spindly arms and legs and large heads. One's ears were short, reminding Harry of a bat, and one had long ears going halfway down its back. Both wore neat pillowcases in place of clothes.

"That's Dobby." Draco murmured to Harry and Hercules gesturing to the one with the short ears. "And that's Lottie." He motioned to the elf with the long ears.

"What would Mistress Narcissa be requesting of Lottie and Dobby?" Lottie asked in a squeaky voice, bowing low to the ground.

"Lottie, Dobby, this is Harry Potter and his familiar Hercules. Harry's going to be our new ward, so treat him the same way you would us." Lucius instructed.

Both turned to a nervous Harry. Their eyes widened when they saw Hercules, but then they relaxed. After all, ten years ago, another snake had visited often…

Dobby's face split into a huge grin. He bowed low to Harry. "It's a pleasure to be meeting you, Master Harry Potter, sir!" Lottie's reaction was more measured. She gave Harry an appraising look up and down, then smiled, bowing. "It is very nice to meet you, Young Master Harry. Does Young Master Harry request anything of Lottie and Dobby?"

"It's a pleasure to meet you too, Dobby, Lottie." Harry said nervously, hoping he had said the right thing. He looked to Narcissa, who smiled in approval.

"We'd like to have our lunch now please, Lottie." Narcissa told her.

"What would Mistress Narcissa like Lottie to make for lunch?" Lottie asked.

Narcissa thought for a minute, then requested soup and sandwiches, something that would be easy on Harry's digestive system. She'd have to give the child a medical exam after lunch; they needed to know how much damage Harry's damnable relatives had done to him. She should probably contact Healer Davis as well. The older man had been her mentor, and it would be a good idea to have more than one Healer there, especially if a trial would be necessary(which it probably would be). Davis was also neutral, so the Light families would be more willing to listen to him.

"Would Young Master Harry's snake be requesting something for lunch?" Lottie asked, nodding toward the child and snake sitting on the sofa. _Lottie SHOULD figure out what Young Master Harry's snake wants to be called, _Lottie thought to herself.

The mentioned snake, despite that snakes' faces weren't built for expression still managed to look completely confused. Narcissa stifled a smile. A certain other snake had had the exact same expression when Lottie had asked the same question many years ago.

"I'm sorry, Hercules." Narcissa said. "I should have asked sooner. Did you eat anything yet? Are you hungry?"

Hercules nodded. _"It's a good thing I didn't eat before, with that stupid cart ride and the fireplace thing or it would have come right back up again." _he grumbled to Harry.

"Should Lottie take Young Master Harry's snake to the garden where Miss Nagini liked to eat at?" Lottie questioned. Narcissa looked startled by the question and Harry decided it was best not to ask who Nagini was.

_We need to tell Harry the truth about his parents. I know he doesn't know it. _Narcissa thought to herself. _But do we give him a few days to adjust or tell him immediately?_

Hercules wondered who this Miss Nagini was. The name sounded suspiciously snake-like. _So there might have been another snake here? No wonder those little elves weren't too afraid of me._

Narcissa finally nodded, and Lottie motioned to Hercules. "Come with me, Young Master Harry's snake."

Hercules looked at Harry, reluctant to leave him alone in a house full of strangers. _"Go." _Harry told him. He tried to sound braver than he felt. _"You need to eat. I'll be fine." _Still looking unsure, Hercules followed Lottie, giving a last look back at Harry who smiled, trying to reassure both Hercules and himself.

"Dobby, I'd like you to set up the bedroom next to Draco's for Harry." Lucius instructed.

"Right away, Master Lucius, sir." Dobby popped away before either could thank him.

"I get a room?" Harry blurted out.

Lucius blinked. "Of course." Had his miserable excuses for relatives not even let him sleep in a bedroom? He needed to ask the child more about what his relatives did, but it would be best to wait until Hercules came back from his hunt. Harry would feel more comfortable with his familiar around, and Lucius knew the snake was the only reason Harry had been able to tell the little he did in the first place.

"May I show Harry around the Manor?" Draco asked.

"Of course you may." Lucius told him. "Just be downstairs when Lottie tells you it's time for lunch."

"This is the library." Draco announced, opening a huge ornate door. Harry gasped at the sheer size of it. This one room was bigger than the Dursleys' entire house, with books from floor to ceiling. Draco led him around the library, showing him where each section was(something Harry was very grateful for as he was having some trouble reading the signs) and bragging that besides Hogwarts, the Malfoys had the biggest and most well stocked library in Britain.

Harry loved to read and to learn, but he had to hide how well he did in school because the Dursleys would punish him for being better than Dudley at anything. If he asked the Malfoys nicely, would they let him look around this magnificent library?

After exiting the library, Draco opened the next door. "Here's the study."

Like the living room, the study was lavishly decorated, with very comfortable looking chairs and tables made of a beautiful, dark wood. At the back of the room stood a few small bookshelves filled with spell books, potions books, a few different guides to magical creatures that Harry desperately wanted to read, books on runes, books on something called Arithmancy…

Draco noticed Harry's longing look at the books. "Do I deduce Ravenclaw in your future?" he teased lightly.

Harry blushed.

"You know, you can take those books and read them anytime you want. Just bring them back when you're done." Draco told him.

"Really?" Harry blurted out. "But they're your books…"

"Harry, you're my foster brother, they're your books too. Here." Draco picked up the Magical Creatures guides and the Arithmancy book that he had noticed that Harry was eying. Harry was still hesitant but took them, thanking Draco.

"That's the Potions lab." Draco told Harry, gesturing to another door. "Father and Uncle Sev say I can't go in there without one of them present." He noticed the questioning look in Harry's eyes. "Potions can be dangerous." he explained. "If you get a step wrong, they could explode or do the opposite of what they were intended to do." Draco grimaced. "Trust me on this."

Harry nodded. He definitely wouldn't be disobeying any rules. And it would NOT be good to have a potion explode in his face.

Draco continued to show Harry around, kindly pointing out where the bathrooms and closets were. Definitely important information to know in a strange house. "That's Mother and Father's room. And this," he walked down the hallway and opened yet another door, smiling proudly. "is mine."

Draco's room was huge. There was a king-sized bed, covered by green sheets with a silver trim, as well as a desk, nightstand, and bookshelf. A wall shelf over the bed contained a collection of dragon figurines and his walls were covered in what looked like Quidditch posters. Draco's closet was open, and Harry could see Quidditch equipment nestled below the many robes hanging there.

"Wow.." Harry breathed.

"You like it?" Draco asked eagerly.

"It's amazing." Harry told him.

Draco began rummaging around in his closet. When he emerged, he was holding something in his hand. He suddenly tossed it at Harry. "Think fast!' he yelled.

Startled, Harry reached up and caught the object. Looking at it, he realized it was a tiny golden ball with small, fluttering wings. He remembered Draco showing him one at the Quidditch shop, saying it was called a golden snitch.

"Great catch!" Draco said approvingly. "You have good reflexes; you should try out for the Quidditch team in second year."

Harry blushed and looked down, not used to compliments.

"Let's go see your room. I'm sure Dobby's finished with it by now." Draco said. Before Harry could even respond, Draco grabbed his hand and pulled him to the door at the end of the hallway. Harry gasped as Draco opened the door.

His new room was enormous, just as large as Draco's. Like Draco's, his bed was king-size, with the same green with silver trim. Hercules would be able to fit on it easily without crowding him. A nightstand stood next to it. His schoolbooks were neatly stacked on a bookshelf of the same lovely dark wood as the ones in the study. Next to it stood a desk upon which his new quills and parchments were neatly placed. His new school robes hung in the closet.

"Do you like it?" Draco asked eagerly.

Harry nodded, still in awe. "This is mine?" he blurted out.

"Of course!" Draco answered, surprised. "Did you think we'd make you sleep in a broom closet or something?"

The last part was meant to be teasing, but when Harry stiffened and looked down, Draco knew he had made a mistake.

"Harry, I'm sorry. That was a really stupid thing for me to say." Draco murmured, putting a hand on Harry's shoulder. The other boy flinched at the touch. "Harry?" Draco asked, his voice shaking a little. "Did the muggles make you sleep in a broom cupboard?"

Still not meeting Draco's eyes, Harry nodded. Tears pricked at his eyes. Would Draco hate him or think he was a freak?

"Those stupid muggles…" Draco growled, wanting to punch something. How could someone treat his new brother that way? He pulled the smaller boy into a hug. "Harry, it's alright. You're away from them now." Harry stiffened but didn't pull away. "You know that my parents and I would never treat you that way, right?" Harry continuing to look at the floor was his only answer.

Draco released Harry from the hug, but kept both hands firmly on his shoulders. "Harry, look at me." he ordered. Harry reluctantly raised his eyes to meet Draco's. "Mother and Father would never hurt you or make you sleep in a cupboard. _Never. _I promise."

There was a fierce sincerity in Draco's voice that made Harry believe the other boy. Draco had been nice to him from the moment they had met and so had Mr. and Mrs. Malfoy. Harry had never been able to trust adults, with the exception of Hercules and maybe Hagrid, but maybe, just maybe, he could trust Mr. and Mrs. Malfoy. He nodded at Draco, managing a weak smile. "Thanks." he whispered.

"You're welcome." Draco said softly. He was really shaken by everything that his new brother had gone through, though he didn't want to show it. He was only eleven, and this was horrible, unimaginable. He'd have to talk to his mother and father about the things Harry had let slip. They'd be able to help; they always did. "Let's check out your new room, shall we?"

Harry set the books Draco had given him on the desk, running his hands lightly over the wood. He was still in awe that this, and the whole room, was _his. _Meanwhile, Draco had opened the closet and peeked inside.

"You need clothes. Something better than those old rags you're wearing." Draco announced. Harry looked at his feet, embarrassed.

"Don't worry about it, Harry." Draco reassured. "Mother and Father will get you some new ones soon, and until then, you can borrow some of mine." Draco ran to his room and grabbed one of his everyday robes. "Here. Put this on."

Quietly thanking Draco, Harry took the robe and stepped into the closet to change, shutting the door behind him. He did _not _want Draco to see his scars. He hadn't even let Hercules see them, mostly because he didn't want the snake to worry. And he was ashamed of them. Though Hercules insisted Harry wasn't a freak, he still had trouble believing it himself.

"Much better." Draco commented once Harry had emerged. They did fit much better than the horrible rags Harry had come in, but Draco noticed they still hung off Harry's too-thin frame. _Did the muggles give him no food at all?_

A pop suddenly sounded from the doorway, making Harry jump about a mile in the air and turn around quickly. He sighed in relief when he saw it was only Lottie.

"Young Master Draco, Young Master Harry; lunch is ready." Lottie announced.

"Is Hercules still hunting? Is he okay?" Harry asked, concerned.

"_I'm right here, Harry." _Hercules called from around the corner. He slithered over to Harry. _"The hunting is very good here." _he told Harry. _"Give Lottie and the Malfoys my thanks."_

"Hercules says thank you." Harry relayed to Lottie.

"Tell Hercules that he is very welcome." Lottie said. She liked this little boy and his strange companion. Both were very kind and polite.

Lottie noticed that both Young Master Draco and Young Master Harry both seemed a little down. She knew just the thing to cheer them up. "Lottie made treacle tarts to go with lunch. And there will be a special surprise for dessert tonight."

As she hoped, this made Draco brighten considerably, though she noticed his smile still didn't quite reach his eyes. "Thank you, Lottie! Come on, Harry!" Draco grabbed Harry's hand and they hurried downstairs with Hercules following behind.

…...

Draco led Harry to the dining room. Like the rest of the house, it was very grand, with an ornate table that could hold way more than four people. It was set with lovely china dishes and crystal glasses. Harry was afraid he'd break something; these dishes looked extremely expensive and despite Draco's words, he still feared they'd beat him if he was bad and broke something. Or even worse, they might send him back to the Dursleys!

Hercules sensed his fear and gave him a nudge. _"Harry, I'm right here and I'd never let anything happen to you. Don't be afraid."_

The older Malfoys were already seated at the table, smiling at the three that had just arrived. Platters of delicious-looking sandwiches and four bowls of steaming soup suddenly appeared on the table, as well as a huge plate of the promised treacle tarts. "House-elf magic." Draco told Harry, noticing his confused expression.

Draco sat down, but Harry hesitated, making the Malfoys give him a worried look. "Please sit down, Harry." Lucius said. The child complied. Hercules coiled around Harry's chair and rested his head in Harry's lap. This made Harry feel a little better.

The Malfoys started eating. A few minutes later, Narcissa noticed that Harry hadn't even touched his food. "Why aren't you eating, Harry? Aren't you feeling well?" Narcissa asked in concern. Hercules looked at Harry, a worried expression on his face as well.

"I-I'm fine, Mrs. Malfoy." Harry whispered.

"Sweetheart, call me Narcissa or Aunt Cissy." Narcissa gently commanded. "And why aren't you eating? Does it have something to do with your aunt and uncle?"

Harry nodded. "They-they don't like me to eat with them. I have to wait until after they eat, and only then do I get what Dudley doesn't want." His voice was barely audible. Both the Malfoy family and Hercules looked horrified. Hercules nuzzled him, murmuring, _"It's okay, Harry. You're away from them; you're safe with us now."_

Lucius was scowling. "Those blasted muggles… I should…" He noticed Harry's frightened expression. "Child, I'm angry with your relatives, not you. And we want you to eat with us and eat as much as you want to. We will never starve you for any reason. _Ever._"

Harry nodded, hesitantly beginning to eat his lunch. He was still a little nervous, but the Malfoys hadn't hurt him yet, and Hercules being with him definitely helped.

Narcissa was watching him, with little appetite for her own lunch. She didn't know whether she wanted to cry, go over and hug Harry(which might scare him), or go to the Dursleys' house and crucio them until they begged for mercy. She looked at Draco, who was picking at his own lunch, unusually quiet. This had to be tough on him as well. She wished she could protect him from this pain, but it was impossible.

A few minutes later, Draco tapped Harry on the shoulder. "Harry, can you pass the-" Harry jolted, accidentally knocking over his glass of pumpkin juice, which spilled all over the white tablecloth. Harry's eyes widened. "I'm sorry! I'm sorry! I didn't mean to!" he cried.

Harry would have bolted had Hercules not reacted quickly and coiled tighter around him. _"Shh, Harry. It was just an accident; no one's going to hurt you. It's okay. I'm right here." _the snake soothed. Hercules hated seeing Harry like this. Not for the first time that day, Hercules wished the Wizarding World had just left them alone. Harry had been getting better, less fearful, but now that all this had happened in less than twenty four hours, Harry had regressed back to the terrified child Hercules had first met.

"Harry, it's okay, it was an accident." Narcissa told him. She cast a cleaning charm on the stain. "See? Easily fixed." This made Harry relax a bit, glad he hadn't caused permanent damage.

Lucius rose from his seat and walked over to Harry. Harry flinched away and Hercules shifted so he was between the child and Lucius. "Harry, I'm not going to hurt you. Can you come with me, please?"

"Lucius, at least let him finish his lunch!" Narcissa protested.

"Cissy, right now, he's too scared. He'll feel better around us once he knows what to expect. This should only take a few minutes."

"_I'm coming with him." _Hercules hissed. Though he doubted Lucius would harm his hatchling, he wasn't taking any chances. And Harry would need him for moral support.

Though Lucius couldn't understand Parseltongue, he could pretty much guess what the snake was saying. And he had expected no different. It would be much easier to talk to the child with his familiar there anyway.

…

Lucius lead Harry and Hercules to his office. Sitting down behind his desk, he gestured to the other chair. "Please sit down, Harry, Hercules."

Harry complied, and Hercules crawled partially onto his lap, his eyes never leaving Lucius.

Lucius decided to go straight to the point. "Harry, were you afraid we were going to hurt you for accidentally knocking over the glass?"

Looking down and stroking Hercules's scales, Harry nodded.

"Harry, look at me." Lucius commanded gently. Harry met his eyes. "We will never beat you, starve you, or do anything to physically or emotionally harm you."

"Even when I'm bad or a freak?" Harry whispered.

"Harry, do not call yourself that!" Lucius scolded. Hercules nodded.

"Not calling yourself derogatory names will be one of the house rules, Harry." Lucius told him. Noticing Harry looked frightened at the mention of house rules he asked quietly, "What were the house rules at your aunt and uncle's, child?"

Harry's eyes drifted back down to Hercules and he clung to the snake. After a moment he answered. "No asking questions. No freakishness. No eating before Dudley. No banging on the cupboard door. Finish all chores before Uncle Vernon gets home or you will be beaten. No crying. Do not tell anyone."

The "rules" continued and they only got worse. Harry was crying by the time he finished, burying his head in Hercules's scales. _"Oh, Harry…" _Hercules murmured. Every time he thought the abuse couldn't get any worse, he found out it had. Simply crushing them was too good for the Dursleys. They deserved something much more painful. He cuddled closer to the child, whispering reassurances.

Lucius watched as Hercules comforted Harry. The amount of abuse the child had gone through was shocking, possibly even worse than what Severus had gone through. No wonder Harry had been afraid of him.

"Harry, what the muggles did to you was wrong. They will pay for what they've done." Lucius forced himself to remain calm for Harry's sake; anger would only scare him more.

"What- what are you going to do to them?" Harry asked.

"We are going to have them tried for child abuse in the Wizengamot, the Wizarding World's court of law." Lucius answered. As much as he wanted to go Crucio them until they went insane or died, he couldn't, lest he get sent to Azkaban, which would not be good for either his family or Harry.

"Will I have to testify?" Harry asked, his voice shaking. The Dursleys would be enraged if they knew he had broken the rules, knew he had told! What if they beat him, or worse, did something to hurt Hercules or Draco?

"I don't know." Lucius admitted. He knew the child would be scared to face his abusers, but he wasn't going to lie to him and say that he wouldn't have to testify when he very well might. A light Legimency probe confirmed the child's fears. "Harry, the trial will ensure the Dursleys can never hurt you again. We won't let them hurt you, Hercules, or Draco."

Hercules nodded. _"Everything's going to be fine. And I'll be right beside you every step of the way."_

This reassured Harry somewhat. Though the idea of a trial where he would have to testify still frightened him, the idea that he would be free of the Dursleys was like a weight off his chest. And Hercules being with him would help a lot.

"And forget the "rules" the Dursleys gave you. They do not apply in this family. We care about you and will never harm you like those monsters did." Lucius told him firmly. "There will be some rules that you need to follow, but they will be nothing like the ones your aunt and uncle put you through."

"What are they?" Harry asked.

"First, no calling yourself a freak or any other derogatory name. You are NOT a freak." Lucius said sternly. Harry nodded.

"Second, do not enter the Potions Lab or the Dueling Room without an adult present. This is for your own safety. Potions can explode if not brewed properly, and offensive and defensive spells can go awry. We do not want you getting hurt."

"Draco told me about the potions lab," Harry whispered. "But what's the Dueling Room?"

"The Dueling Room is used for practicing offensive and defensive spells, used for combat situations and protection against any adversaries." Lucius explained. "You will learn more about them in Defense Against The Dark Arts. I will teach you some before school starts if you'd like to learn more." _And it may be completely necessary, _Lucius thought.

Harry did want to learn how to defend himself. He hated being so weak, wanted to be able to protect himself and Hercules if necessary. "I think I'd like that."

Hercules too thought that defense lessons would be a good idea. With this Voldemort person around, he'd feel a lot safer if Harry had a way to defend himself. And he might be able to pick up on a few things to be able to protect his hatchling better.

Lucius gave Harry a small smile. "I will be giving you, as well as Draco, lessons in a few days then." He returned to the original subject. "Curfew is at nine PM, lights out at nine-thirty, same as Draco's. Chores around the rest of the house aren't necessary, but keep your room clean and put your clothes away. And we will be getting you new ones tomorrow. You will not be wearing those rags again."

"Thank you." Harry told him gratefully. To wear clothes that were just for him, that Dudley had never worn, that would be wonderful. "I can pay you back.."

Lucius cut him off. "You're welcome, and like I said before, that is not necessary. We are your guardians and it is our responsibility to provide you with things you need." Harry nodded, but it still appeared that he did not understand. Lucius hoped that with time, love, and patience that the child would learn what a real family was supposed to be like.

Lucius continued with the rules. "We expect you to do well in school. Do all your homework and do not cut classes. If you have any trouble with a subject, feel free to ask myself, Narcissa, one of your professors, or an older student for help."

This rule actually made Harry feel a lot better. He loved to learn, and this proved that Lucius would not get mad at him for performing at his best.

"Always come to myself or Narcissa if you have any problem or even if you just need to talk. Never lie to us; we can't help you if you lie." Again, Harry nodded.

"And this last rule is the most important." Lucius said, a stern edge to his voice. "Never, EVER, put yourself or anyone else in danger." He seriously doubted Harry would do that, but this was too important a rule not to say, especially with the events he feared would be ahead. "If there is an emergency, always come to one of us, or a professor if you're in school. NEVER try to solve it yourself."

"I will." Harry told him. He would never put himself or anyone else in danger, he knew that for sure. And he would be sure not to break any of the other rules. Unlike the rules at the Dursleys, these would be easy to stick to. But something was still bothering him. "S-sir?"

"Please call me Lucius, Harry." Lucius corrected. Harry had always called him "Unca Luc" as a baby, but Lucius was not sure if Harry would ever be comfortable with the word "uncle" again.

"I-if I break a rule, what would the p-punishments be?" Harry asked. Hercules sent Harry a wave of comfort, keeping his eyes on Lucius.

Lucius sighed. This was probably going to be the hardest part of this discussion. "If you break a rule, depending on the severity of it, I may have you write lines, ground you, or suspend privileges. I will never beat you or withhold food, water, the bathroom or any necessities. However, if you break the last rule, if you put yourself or anyone else in danger, you will receive a spanking as well as several months grounding."

"I understand." Harry whispered, holding on to Hercules. Though he was still nervous about it, a spanking would not be near as bad as what the Dursleys did to him for breaking the tiniest rule. And if he was stupid enough to deliberately put himself or someone else in danger he definitely deserved it.

"Harry, we care about you and we would never hurt you. These rules were put in place to keep you safe. Do you understand?"

"I think so." Harry whispered, still unsure. The Malfoys had only known him for a few hours. Why did they care so much?

"Know so, Harry. We were friends with your parents and you and Draco played together all the time as babies. Narcissa and I have always thought of you as a nephew." Though he knew Harry was afraid to speak it, the question "Why didn't you come find me?" was all too visible in those emerald green eyes. Lucius lowered his head, feeling ashamed, and answered it.

"We tried to find you after your parents died, to see if you were happy and well cared for, but no matter what means we tried, muggle or magical, we couldn't. I'm sorry, Harry. I'm so, so sorry. Had we been able to find you, had we known, you would have been out of there faster than you could blink."

Harry surprised Lucius, Hercules, and especially himself by getting up, walking over and hugging Lucius. "Thank you." he whispered.

Lucius just sat there for a few seconds out of pure shock, then gently hugged the child back. After a few seconds, Harry pulled away. "I'm so sorry!" he exclaimed.

"You don't have to ever be sorry for hugging me." Lucius told him. "You are free to hug Narcissa and I anytime you want to, within reason of course."

Harry gave him a bright smile, and in that moment Lucius saw the happy child the boy had once been. "Are you ready to go back and finish lunch? Do you feel better now?" Lucius asked.

Harry nodded, and he, Hercules, and Lucius headed back to the dining room.

…...

After Harry had finished lunch, Draco was about to show him the Quidditch Pitch, but before they could go, Narcissa called him over. "Harry, we're going to need to give you a medical exam."

"I-I'm fine." Harry stammered. If the Malfoys gave him a physical, they'd see the scars…

"No you're not." Narcissa stated firmly but gently. "Your relatives have hurt you, and you're extremely malnourished. You need to be healed, but to do that, we need to know the extent of the damage."

Noticing the beginning signs of a panic attack, Hercules rushed to soothe his hatchling. _"Harry, I know you're scared, but she's right. You're hurt and they can help, but you need to let them. I'll be right there with you the entire time."_

Harry nodded to Hercules's statement. "Okay." he told Narcissa. "C-can Hercules stay with me?"

"Of course." Narcissa said. "This should only take about half an hour to an hour and then you can play with Draco."

"Draco, do you want to play some Quidditch with me until Harry's done?" Lucius asked, knowing that his son was a little disappointed about having to wait to play with Harry. It would also give him a chance to talk to his son. Though Draco was mature for his age, he was still only eleven and this had to be rough on him.

Draco brightened and nodded, running upstairs to get his Quidditch supplies.

Once Lucius and Draco were headed outside, Narcissa led Harry to the living room. She had flooed Healer Davis about the situation, who thankfully hadn't been busy and agreed to see Harry that day. Harry was seated on the couch with Hercules on his lap, watching her nervously.

"Harry, my friend is coming over to help with the examination. His name is Steven Davis, and he is a Senior Healer and my mentor. Do not be afraid of him, he is very kind and will never hurt you." She got a hesitant nod from a still very anxious Harry. Throwing some Floo Powder into the fireplace, she called out, "Healer Davis!"

"Harry's ready, Steven." Narcissa said upon seeing the grey-haired healer. "He's still very scared though, probably about us seeing his injuries; you know how Sev was. His familiar is with him for moral support; is that okay?"

Steven nodded. "That won't be a problem, Narcissa."

Narcissa pulled her head out of the fireplace. Harry and Hercules were looking at her, dumbfounded. She'd have to explain Floo calls to them later…

After about a minute, the Floo flared to life and Healer Davis stepped through. Not wanting to frighten Harry, Healer Davis slowly approached the child. "Hello, Harry. I'm Healer Davis, but you can call me Steven. How are you doing today?" He held out his hand.

Harry hesitantly shook it. "Nice to meet you, sir. I'm fine." His voice was so quiet, Steven had to strain to hear it.

Narcissa reached for her wand. "Harry, I'm going to run my wand over you and a parchment and quill will appear next to me. This will document any injuries you have received. Hercules, you're going to need to move a little so you don't interfere with the scan."

Hercules moved to one side of Harry, his eyes never leaving the child. Harry was shaking a little as the wand moved over him. He feared what would show up on the scan and their reactions.

The quill started writing and continued until it was several feet long. Narcissa gasped softly as she and Steven read the parchment. How could anyone do this to a child?

"Harry, can you tell me how you received these injuries?" Steven asked. He already knew, but he needed it for his testimony when the child's horrible relatives were tried.

Harry clung to Hercules, who had moved back onto his lap. "M-my aunt, u-uncle, and cousin…" he murmured through his tears.

"Harry, I'm going to need you to remove your shirt so I can check your back. The scan reveals you have a lot of bruising, burns, and extensive scarring there and I need to heal it." Narcissa told him. She knew the child would probably prefer her touch to a complete stranger's.

Harry's hands were shaking so bad that Narcissa had to help him remove it, then got him to lay down on his stomach, gently nudging Hercules to the end of the sofa. Looking at his back, she had to stifle a sob. His back was covered in scars, burns, and bruises that were still healing. And worse, someone, probably his uncle, had carved the word "Freak" into the child's back.

Hercules took one look and hissed _"They will pay!" _Only the fact that his little one needed him here kept him from going right this second and slowly killing the Dursleys in the most painful way he could think of. He forced himself to calm down and whispered to his sobbing hatchling, _"Shh, Harry, you're safe now; it's okay, I'm right here." _

Steven wordlessly handed Narcissa some bruise and burn paste as well as some anti scarring cream, which she rubbed gently into Harry's back, tears streaming down her face.

"There's nerve damage on both his hands, looks like someone burned them badly. I'm surprised he can even feel." Steven murmured. Hercules flinched, remembering a nightmare Harry had told him about where his aunt had held the child's hand over a open flame. The healer picked up another tube of cream. "Harry, I'm going to rub this into your palms; it'll heal the nerve damage. This might sting a little, but it will make you feel a lot better afterwards. Is this okay?." After he got a nod from the child, he carefully rubbed the cream in.

Steven and Narcissa felt many old breaks in the child's bones, but thankfully they had healed properly, though the problem of arthritis would have to be watched out for.

"He's malnourished and anemic, so give him nutrition potions twice a day and this vitamin potion once a day. The bruise and burn paste can be used as needed. His bones are a little weak, so avoid Quidditch or any other contact sports for at least a year." Steven advised. He gave Narcissa a week's worth of the suggested potions.

"Some of the problem with his eyes is related to malnutrition, so they should improve somewhat with the potions, but he will always be nearsighted and need glasses. Speaking of glasses, these are not the right prescription for him. This should help until you can get him a new pair." Steven took Harry's glasses and tapped them with his wand, then gave the glasses back to the boy. Harry put them on and looked around in amazement.

"Everything's so clear.." he breathed. "Thank you!"

"You're welcome, child." Steven said. "Now, I'd better get going. I'm leaving you in good hands. Narcissa was one of my best students." The blond woman blushed at the praise. The healer said goodbye then left through the floo.

Once the healer had left, Harry turned to Hercules. He noticed the snake looked really upset and he could feel guilt radiating off Hercules. _"Hercules? What's wrong?"_

"_Harry, I am so, so sorry. I should have known you needed healing. Instead, I decided to take you into the woods like an idiot! What if you had been hurt even worse and something happened to you because I didn't take you to find help? I am so-"_

Harry cut the snake off. _"Hercules! You did help! You saved me from the Dursleys, you made sure I was fed and safe, you comforted me when I needed it, how could you feel guilty? You saved my life, Hercules, in more ways than one. And even if you did know, who could we have gone to for help? The police and doctors would have just sent you back to the zoo and me back to the Dursleys or to an orphanage. And we didn't even KNOW about the Wizarding World until yesterday so we couldn't have gone here! Quit blaming yourself; this isn't your fault!" _Harry hugged Hercules tightly.

"_You know, you could be a constrictor yourself with that grip." _Hercules teased lightly. Harry blushed and loosened his grip, though not letting go of the snake. It was obvious Harry's little pep talk had made Hercules feel better. _" You're right. I just hate seeing you hurting and wish I could have done more." _

Harry just snuggled closer to the snake. _"You've done everything. I just wish I could do as much for you as you've done for me."_

Hercules turned his head to look the child in the eyes. _"You already have, Harry. You've been my friend and cared about me more than anyone else in my life ever has. Not to mention you did free me from that ridiculously cramped cage." _Hercules chuckled at the last part. He knew from some of the things that Harry had told him that the glass vanishing had probably been a burst of wild, uncontrolled magic that happened both because Harry wanted Hercules to be free and that Harry was hurt and needed help; but he also knew the child well enough to know that Harry would have done the same thing had he had full control of his powers and known what he was doing.

Hercules uncoiled himself from Harry. _"Now," _he said with a teasing tone to his voice. _"I think there's a little blond human that's been waiting for you to play with him outside."_

Harry jumped to his feet. "Oh no!" he exclaimed. "Will Draco be mad at me when he finds out I can't play Quidditch?"

Narcissa, who had been watching the exchange between boy and snake with a small smile, quickly responded. "No, Harry, Draco won't be mad at you at all. And you can still play a little of the game with him; we just can't have the bludgers and either Lucius or I will keep a close eye on you so you don't get hurt."

Harry gave her a smile, and Narcissa took his hand and led him outside to the Quidditch Pitch, where Lucius and Draco were waiting.

…..

Supper was a much more cheerful affair than lunch with Harry a lot more relaxed and Draco eagerly chattering about Quidditch and an expected visit from Uncle Sev the next day. Draco had been a little disappointed that Harry would not be able to play real Quidditch that year, but was relieved to know the problem could be fixed and that Harry would get better. They had spent the afternoon flying around and tossing the Snitch and Quaffle back and forth. Draco was impressed by the way Harry could so easily catch the Snitch(though Hercules still swore that his heart had nearly stopped when Harry had made that dive), again encouraging Harry to try out for Quidditch in second year when he was fully recovered.

Lucius watched his son, smiling. They had talked a little on the field, Draco opening up to him with his concerns about Harry. Lucius had reassured Draco that Harry would be all right, and told him how proud he was of him for being a good big brother and handling the situation so well. It was obvious the talk had been what Draco needed, as he seemed to be feeling a lot better.

The good mood was increased even more by the large, elaborately decorated chocolate layer cake Lottie had baked for dessert. Harry was smiling. With Hercules and his new family with him, this had been the best birthday Harry had ever had.

…...

Lucius and Narcissa were relaxing in their study after supper when they heard a timid knock on the door. "Come in." Lucius called.

The door opened and a nervous Harry stepped in, Hercules at his side. "Draco told me where you'd be." Harry whispered. "C-Can I ask you something?"

"Of course, sweetheart." Narcissa told him. "What do you need?"

"You were friends with my parents, right?"

Both Lucius and Narcissa nodded.

"Can you tell me about them, please?" Harry blurted out. "I-I'm sorry, I just don't know anything about them and-"

"Harry, you don't need to apologize and of course we'd be willing to tell you about them." Narcissa reassured. "Your mother was a muggleborn, meaning both her parents were muggles. She was an incredibly powerful witch, and excelled at Charms. She was incredibly kind and had a temper as fiery as her hair." Narcissa smiled sadly at the memory of Lily.

"Your father and I did not get along so well when we were younger." Lucius told Harry. "But when he grew up, he became an incredibly brave man. He was a skilled Auror, that's like being a cop in Muggle terms, and he was one of the best in Transfiguration. That's where you turn something into something else." he added upon seeing Harry's confused expression. "You look a lot like your father, but you have your mother's spirit."

"Would you like to see some pictures of them, Harry?" Narcissa asked, pulling out an envelope from a desk drawer.

Harry nodded eagerly.

"Here's one with your mother." Narcissa handed him a photo. Harry nearly dropped it. "It's moving!" Hercules leaned up to look as well.

"All wizarding pictures do." Lucius told him, amused. "I don't know how muggles can stand having their pictures just stand still."

Harry and Hercules studied the picture. A beautiful woman with long red hair and green eyes just like his smiled at the camera, a baby Harry in her arms. A much younger Narcissa was in the photo too, holding a baby Draco, who was smiling and trying to grab the camera. Between them stood a lovely woman with wild black hair and a huge grin, who had her arms wrapped around both his mother and Narcissa. Baby Harry grabbed a hold of her hair, and she laughed. "Who is that?" Harry asked, pointing to the dark-haired woman.

"That's my sister and Draco's Aunt Bella." Narcissa told him. She smiled at the photo. "She was one of your mother's close friends and always considered you her nephew too."

"Where is she?" Harry asked.

"She was thrown into Azkaban prison for something she didn't do." Lucius growled. Harry backed up a step in alarm and Hercules moved in front of him protectively. Lucius's eyes softened. "I'm sorry, Harry. I didn't mean to scare you. I'm just mad at the wizards who threw her in jail without a trial and even more so at the ones who framed her." Harry decided it was better not to ask what happened.

Narcissa handed Harry a photo. "Here's one of your father."

In this photo, a man with messy black hair and glasses who looked a lot like Harry was holding a newborn Harry and grinning rather goofily at the camera. Two other men stood next to him with huge smiles, waving at the camera. "This was taken right after you were born. The one in the center is your father and the men next to him are your father's friends Sirius and Remus. But you knew them as Uncle Padfoot and Uncle Moony. Sirius was your godfather, but like Bella, he was framed and arrested for something he didn't do." Narcissa whispered, holding the child when he started to cry. "We've been trying to get them out of there and we're going to keep trying. We will get them out, I promise."

Narcissa handed him another picture. "Here's one of you, your mother, and her best friend, your Uncle Severus."

Harry looked carefully at the photo. His mother rested in a hospital bed, smiling at the newborn him, who was being held by a man with long, dark hair and a crooked nose. The man was smiling softly, all his focus on the baby in his arms.

"Severus is coming over tomorrow to give Draco a potions lesson. You'll meet him then." Lucius said. He'd have to call Sev tonight, let him know they had Harry and that he was safe.

Narcissa was about to pull out another photo when one fell out of the pile and landed on the desk. Harry looked at it. In the photo, a baby Harry toddled over to a dark-haired man with long black robes and tugged on his robes. When the man turned, the baby smiled and gave the universal baby "up" gesture. The man gave a small smile and obliged, scooping up the toddler.

Narcissa glanced at the photo. "I forgot Bella had taken this…" she murmured. "That's your uncle Tom. He was also… a friend of your parents." Harry wondered why she had paused. The man in the photo suddenly turned toward the camera, glaring. Harry gasped. He didn't know if that was the flash or not, but when you looked closely at the photo, the man's eyes were bright red. Hercules was staring at the photo like he was trying to figure something out. _"There's something…" _he murmured.

Narcissa noticed that Harry looked alarmed. "Tom hated having his photo taken." She sighed. "Of course, Bella being Bella, she took it anyway."

"What happened to him?" Harry asked, though he wasn't sure he wanted to know the answer.

"He's gone, Harry." Lucius whispered.

"Did Voldemort kill him like he killed my parents?" Harry asked angrily. "I hate Voldemort! He took my family from me!" Harry began crying again, clinging to Hercules.

Lucius and Narcissa exchanged uncomfortable glances. "We need to tell you something, Harry." Lucius said, leading him to the couch. As Harry sat down, Hercules coiled around him and Narcissa sat his other side. Lucius pulled up a chair and sat across from them. "We wanted to give you a few days to adjust before we told you, but the sooner you know, the better."

…...

"W-What?" Harry asked, his voice shaking. The room spun around him. He held on to Hercules for support.

"Lord Voldemort did not kill your parents, Harry." Lucius repeated.

"H-How do you know?" Harry stammered. "Hagrid said…"

"Hagrid was lied to, Harry." Lucius said, his voice gentle but firm. "And I know because your parents worked for him. And so did I."

Hercules moved in front of Harry protectively.

"My parents worked for Voldemort? But he's a murderer! My parents would never do that!"

Lucius scowled, and Hercules moved into strike position. Had he read these people wrong? Were they out to harm his hatchling?

Lucius forced himself to calm down. This wasn't Harry's fault; he was just repeating what he was told. "Harry, I'm sorry I scared you. Voldemort being a murderer was a lie Dumbledore spread. The Dark Lord would never kill an innocent person. That was all Dumbledore's doing. Dumbledore killed many innocent people, and blamed it on Tom."

Harry's eyes widened. "Tom?"

Lucius realized his slip. "Yes, Voldemort and your uncle Tom were the same person."

Harry's head was starting to spin again. Was the man in the photo that had held him a murderer? Or was Lucius telling the truth. Hercules HAD said that there was something about Dumbledore that he didn't trust.

"_They're telling the truth, Harry." _Hercules whispered. _"But so was Hagrid. So how could this be?"_

"_I think someone's telling the truth and someone THINKS they're telling the truth?" _Harry whispered back. _"But who is who?"_

"_Keep talking to Lucius. We need more information." _Hercules told him.

"Why would Dumbledore do that?" Harry questioned.

"Power, Harry. Power and attention. Many years ago, Albus Dumbledore defeated a powerful and evil wizard known as Gellert Grindelwald. The fact is, the two were partners. They sought to find three artifacts known as the Deathly Hallows; The Cloak of Invisibility, The Resurrection Stone, and the Elder Wand. Legend says that with the three them together, you could be the master of Death himself."

Harry shivered and clung tighter to Hercules.

"Grindelwald sought power through revolution. He terrorized many people and left a killing spree in his wake. Dumbledore preferred more…subtle…means. He cut ties with Grindelwald after a duel in which Dumbledore's younger sister was killed and became a teacher at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry.

"Meanwhile Grindelwald's reign of terror grew and people were clamoring for a hero to save them. Word had come that Grindelwald had gained the Elder Wand, the most powerful wand in the world as well as one of the Deathly Hallows and Dumbledore decided that it was time to strike. He defeated Grindelwald, gained the Elder Wand, and everyone was singing his praises. He used this influence to gain immense power politically, but it wasn't enough. There was no other Dark Lord to defeat, so he decided to make his own. His attention fell on a certain student; one Thomas Marvolo Riddle."

"Tom Riddle was a halfblood wizard. He was extremely powerful, skilled in the dark arts, a Parselmouth with a bound familiar, and the Heir of Salazar Slytherin himself, eventually taking on the Slytherin name. Dumbledore thought he could mold him, make him the perfect Dark Lord to defeat through manipulation, compulsion charms, and even the Imperius curse."

"What are compulsion charms and the Imperius curse?" Harry asked.

"Compulsion charms compel a person to want to do what the caster suggested. The Imperius curse will make a person completely under the caster's control."

Hercules was reminded of Hagrid's glazed eyes and strange behavior in Gringotts. Was he under Dumbledore's control?

Lucius continued with the story. "But Tom didn't take that sitting down. He didn't trust Dumbledore at all, did not fall for his manipulation. And due to being extremely good at Occlumency, the ability to shield one's mind, the compulsion charms did not work, and he was able to shake off the imperius with his familiar's help. He tried to tell the Ministry, but no one believed him, so he managed to avoid Dumbledore until he graduated. He vowed to stop Dumbledore by any means necessary." Using an anagram of his name to protect his identity, he created a new one."

Lucius grabbed his wand and spelled out **Tom Marvolo Riddle**. He waved his wand and the letters switched around to read **I Am Lord Voldemort.**

"He began gathering followers, those who believed him and did not trust Dumbledore, which were most of the Dark families and many magical creatures. He called the group the Death Eaters, saying we would destroy the death Dumbledore was causing. Myself, your Aunt Bellatrix, her husband Rudophus Lestrange and his brother Rabastan, and many others. I helped recruit your uncle Severus on the summer before his sixth year at Hogwarts. He was going through the same problems you are and I knew Tom would protect him. And he did."

"Dumbledore was determined to make the world see Tom as evil. And since he couldn't make Tom do his bidding, he framed him. He hired mercenaries to act as the Death Eaters. They attacked and killed many innocent people, mostly muggleborns and Muggles. Tom was blamed for the death and destruction.

"Your Uncle Severus was your mother's best friend and wanted to keep her safe. So with Tom's permission and asking her to take a magical oath to not reveal anything she was told; he told her everything. She was angry, didn't believe him until he swore it on his magic. Still, she wasn't sure she wanted to join. "

"The summer before Severus's seventh year, his father killed his mother and beat Severus so badly that we nearly lost him too." Harry gasped and Hercules coiled closer. "The Death Eaters and Tom were there for him every step of the way. Your mother decided that since we cared so much for Severus, that we were not the monsters Dumbledore had painted us as. She joined us as an unmarked spy."

"At the same time, Dumbledore had created a vigilante group known as the Order of The Phoenix to supposedly "stop" Voldemort." Lucius laughed harshly. "Your mother joined the Order of the Phoenix and reported everything they said to us. With that information, we were able to stop many of the attacks."

"In their Seventh year, your father, Sirius, and Remus who were part of the Order Of The Phoenix overheard Dumbledore speaking to one of his mercenaries about one of his foul plans. They were horrified, cornered Severus and demanded to know how they could join the Dark Lord. Since they were already in the Order Of The Phoenix, Tom refused to mark them for their own safety and they became unmarked spies."

"What is the mark you are talking about?" Harry questioned.

Lucius rolled up his sleeve. "This is the Dark Mark." he said, pointing to a tattoo of a skull with a snake coming out of it. "It was our way of communicating with the Dark Lord and each other. Unfortunately, Dumbledore knew about the Mark so your parents, Sirius, and Remus were not marked for their own protection and ours as they were members of the Order Of The Phoenix.

"Why did my parents die?" Harry asked, his voice shaking. "Did Dumbledore find out?"

"While your mother was pregnant with you, Severus overheard a prophecy Sybil Trelawney spoke to Albus Dumbledore. It read:

_**The one with the power to vanquish the Dark Lord approaches ... **_

_**born to those who have thrice defied him, **_

_**born as the seventh month dies ... **_

_**and the Dark Lord will mark him as his equal, but he will have power the Dark Lord knows not ... **_

_**and either must die at the hand of the other for neither can live while the other survives ... the one with the power to vanquish the Dark Lord will be born as the seventh month **__dies ..._"

Harry shivered. "What does that mean?"

"It was just a fake prophecy, Harry. The woman who spoke it was a fraud and we believe Dumbledore either made it up himself or she did and he believed it. He wanted a pawn to use against Voldemort. The problem was, all the details matched your family and you were due to be born at the end of July. We knew your parents were in serious danger. They went into hiding, supposedly from Voldemort in Dumbledore's eyes, using a Fidelius charm. That makes their location impossible to plot except for one person who is their Secret Keeper, your parents and whoever your parents or the Secret Keeper tell. Fearing your father's best friend Sirius was too obvious a choice, they chose another friend, one who wasn't in the Death Eaters, known as Peter Pettigrew. They thought they could trust him. It turns out they couldn't."

Harry started shaking and Narcissa gently rubbed his back.

"Tom added more wards to their area as a precaution, but we think someone must have spotted us and found out how the wards were cast."

"The night your parents died, Tom contacted us through the Mark, saying that their wards had fallen. He apparated to their location to try to save them and so did we. The rest of us didn't make it in time. By the time we arrived, your parents and Tom were gone."

Harry was sobbing, Hercules and Narcissa both held him as he cried.

"But the strange thing is, we don't think Tom's fully dead."

"How could he have survived?" Harry asked, hoping that if Lucius was telling the truth, that he was right.

"I'm not sure. But the Mark, it didn't fade away fully as it should have when he died. And his familiar, Nagini, did not die when he did. Last we heard from Nagini before she disappeared, she swore he was still here, but trying to get back into a body. And lately, I've been getting weak signals from the Mark, like he is trying to contact us, but isn't strong enough. And it's been darkening."

"_Wait, isn't Nagini a snake?" _Hercules blurted out. _"How can you even understand what she's saying?"_

Harry relayed the question to Lucius who answered, " Yes, Nagini is a snake, a rattlesnake to be precise, and there is a special spell Salazar Slytherin invented, that allows the caster to temporarily understand the snake the spell hits." He pointed his wand at Hercules. _**"Scio Serpens Oratio!"**_

Harry tried to push Hercules out of the way of the spell, thinking it was meant to harm, but the spell still struck. Hercules glared at Lucius. _**"What. Was. That?!"**_

Lucius wisely moved back a few feet. "That was the spell that I was just telling you about that helps wizards understand snake speech. I'm sorry, Hercules. I should have warned you and Harry before using you as a demonstration."

"_**Yes, you should have." **_Hercules growled.

"Sorry." Lucius said again. _I should have learned not to use a spell on a snake without his or her permission after the time Sirius used a color-changing spell on Nagini and she chased him up that tree._ "Anyway, from everything we've learned, Tom somehow found a way to cheat death. And we think he may be coming back."

Harry was overwhelmed. Yesterday, he hadn't even KNOWN about the Wizarding World. This morning, he had learned he was a wizard and that a psychopath had murdered his parents. Now, he had learned that who he thought had killed his parents may have not done so, and that someone else, the Headmaster of the school he was supposed to be going to, may have been the one to kill them. Who should he believe? And add in strange prophecies and people coming back from the dead… His head was spinning.

"I-I need to think," Harry whispered. "It's not that I don't believe you, it's just that…"

"This is completely overwhelming." Narcissa whispered. "I'm so, so sorry, Harry. I wish this hadn't all been forced on you." She leaned over and gently kissed his cheek. "We'll let you go to bed now. If you want to, we'll talk about this more in the morning."

"And we WILL protect you, Harry." Lucius told him. "Trust us on this. We won't allow anyone to hurt you, Draco, or Hercules."

Harry nodded and he and Hercules left the room.

…...

After they were gone, Narcissa fell into Lucius's arms, crying. "I feel like we failed him, Lucius. Him and Tom."

Lucius hugged her. "We're doing everything we can." he said, his own voice shaking. "The ministry is beginning to have doubts about Dumbledore. Draco and the other children will not be going to Hogwarts unprotected. And Tom's coming back. I don't know how he did it, but Tom's coming back. We will win this war."

"I wish Draco and Harry didn't have to go to Hogwarts at all!" Narcissa burst out. "It's like we're sending them into a war zone!"

"Draco and Harry will be all right, Cissy." Lucius whispered. "Dumbledore will not have his mercenaries attack Hogwarts; with him as Headmaster, that would make him look bad. Plus Severus and Quirnius are on our side, and they will make sure Dumbledore stays far away. And even though the other professors are on the Light Side, they would never let a student be harmed."

"I know, but it just seems so risky." Narcissa sighed. "I don't like taking chances, not when it comes to our children's safety."

"We'll make sure Harry and Draco are provided with every possible protection." Lucius told her. "Harry will need to be taught Occlumency, he has no shields and I fear Dumbledore will try to get into his head. Draco is already proficient in the art, and we can double both their shields with the Runic Shield medallions Augustus made. Severus and I will be teaching them defensive spells. And we'll give them portkeys so they can get back home in case of an emergency."

Lucius sighed. "You know I don't like this any more than you do, but I don't know what other choice we have. We can't send them to Durmstrang, not after Karkaroff betrayed us and joined Dumbledore. At least here, they're close to home and we can keep an eye on them."

Narcissa nodded and buried her head in her husband's shoulder. He continued whispering, "Everything will be okay. We'll all get out of this alive."

…...

Lying in his new bed, Harry clung to Hercules. _"What do we do? I don't know who to trust!"_

Hercules wrapped around Harry. _"Right now, we keep on our guard and stick together. The Malfoys were not lying, but then again, neither was Hagrid."_

"_Who do you think is telling the truth and who do you think is either being controlled or lied to?' _Harry asked.

"_I think Hagrid may be being controlled." _Hercules told Harry about the incident at the bank. _"And the things Hagrid mentioned about Dumbledore made me not trust him even before the Malfoys told us what they did. Still, I don't want to take chances. Until we know for sure, we watch out for both Voldemort and Dumbledore."_

Harry shivered. _"I'm scared, Hercules."_

"_I am too." _the boa constrictor admitted with a sigh. _"We are going to get through this. Everything's going to be okay." _Hercules wasn't sure whether he was trying to reassure Harry or himself.

"_Can we trust the Malfoys? Or should we run?" _Harry asked, shaking.

"_I think we can. They were sincere about wanting to protect you and I, and they clearly care for us. But if we sense anything's off, we run." _Hercules told him. His instincts had served him well before so he'd keep listening to them.

The pair continued to talk and plan, until finally in the early morning hours they managed to fall into an uneasy sleep.

**Wow, this chapter was hard to write and it took nearly thirty pages!**

**Hope you guys have enjoyed the twists and turns in my story! Please review and let me know what you think!**

**P.S: Loosely translated, my invented spell, Scio Serpens Oratio means Understand Snake Speech in Latin.**


	7. Memories and Meetings

A Familiar's Intuition

Memories and Meetings

**Glad you all are enjoying this! Thank you for all your kind reviews!**

**This chapter will have slash, but nothing beyond some harmless kissing.**

**Sorry about the goof-up with England's emergency number. Jullius00 and Godiva9, thank you for telling me it was 999 instead of 911**

Spinner's End

Severus Snape sat in his study, blankly staring at the lesson plans he was supposed to be preparing. He had those to do, and potions to make for Madam Pomphrey, and he just couldn't concentrate. He was normally so focused, yet he hadn't accomplished a single thing all day.

He supposed it had to do with the fact that it was the eleventh birthday of Harry Potter; the little boy who had called him Unca Seb and who he loved like a nephew. The son of the woman who was his best friend and the closest thing to a sister he ever had, Lily Potter nee Evans. The child Dumbledore expected him to hate because he was the son of James Potter, his "worst enemy". What Dumbledore did not know was that Severus had forgiven James Potter long ago, and that his REAL worst enemy had not been James, but the grey-haired psychopath who had killed them and also Tom, the man Severus loved.

Only the Inner Circle ever knew that the Dark Lord and Severus had been a couple. Dumbledore, and most of the Order with the exception of Lily, James, Sirius, and Remus, believed that Severus was in love with Lily and hated James for being with her. While Severus did love Lily, he only loved her as a sister, nothing more.

The romance between Tom and Severus had developed slowly over time. Severus may have had a small crush on the Dark Lord from the beginning(though he would have admitted it), but the small spark ignited into a flame that horrible summer when his father had murdered his mother and nearly killed him. Severus had managed to contact the Death Eaters and Tom through the mark in his last moments of consciousness, and they had arrived at the same time as the police and the paramedics(Lily had heard screams coming from Severus's house and called 999).

What happened next Severus only knew from what he was told. He had been rushed to a muggle hospital, Tom, Lucius, and a few other Death Eaters had testified to the police about Severus being abused, and Bella had nearly been arrested for trying to attack Tobias Snape with her bare hands. All were called to be witnesses in the trial(His father was convicted, and died in prison a few years later of a horribly painful, wasting disease, the cause of which Severus strongly suspected was Tom's doing).

Lucius and his family managed to get Severus transferred to a "private hospital", actually the Malfoy home, where Severus was treated by the most skilled healers they could find and he quickly recovered.

Ashamed, Severus became withdrawn after that and spent most of his time hiding in the Dark Lord's Potions Lab. The Dark Lord and the Death Eaters had seen his weakness; that he had been nearly killed by a mere muggle. Would they hate him? Make him leave the Death Eaters?

Tom disproved that fear, and ended Severus's self-imposed exile, when he marched into the Potions Lab after a day of Severus's avoiding him and the others. Severus expected Tom to laugh, to kick him out of the Death Eaters for being so pathetic. He couldn't have been more wrong.

Instead, Tom sat down with him and revealed that he, the Dark Lord and the strongest man Severus had ever known, had also been abused as a child, something only Nagini had known. Softly, Tom told Severus that he understood, and reassured him that he and the Death Eaters would never abandon him. Severus had never seen the Dark Lord show this gentle, vulnerable side to anyone else before. He felt honored that Tom trusted him enough to let him see it. Their friendship grew, and so did that little spark of attraction, until both were a flame Severus couldn't put out, even if he had wanted to.

Severus hid his attraction to Tom for nearly a year, fearing upsetting him or losing his friendship. And from what Tom told him later, Tom had done the exact same thing for the same reasons. But one warm summer day, soon after Severus graduated, Tom came into the potions lab to talk with Severus as he brewed, just as he had done many times before. For the life of him, Severus couldn't remember what they had been talking about, but what he could never forget was that in the middle of their conversation, Tom leaned over and kissed him.

Severus had been in shock for a few seconds and then he eagerly returned the kiss. After a moment Tom pulled away, saying "Merlin, Severus, I'm so sorry!" Severus had blurted out, "I'm not!" The resulting conversation caused a second, longer, kiss that Bellatrix Lestrange had unfortunately walked in on(without knocking).

Much to both their relief and annoyance, Bella hadn't been upset or even surprised. In fact there had been a BET going on between Bella, Rodolphus, Lily, and a few others on when Tom and Severus would get together. Tom had sent a powerful stinging hex at Bella after that….

Breaking out of his thoughts, Severus looked at his Dark Mark. The darkening of it soothed him, gave him a tiny ray of hope that maybe all was not lost. Nagini HAD told them Tom was not fully gone after all, right before she completely disappeared… Like he had done many times before, Severus touched the Mark. _"Tom?" _The mark tingled like maybe, just maybe Tom was trying to send back a response. _"Where are you?" _Severus thought as strongly as he could, hoping against hope that Tom would send a message back; tell Severus where to find him, or say that he was fine and that he was coming home. The Mark burned slightly, but gave no other response.

Was this just another stupid trick life was pulling on him, giving him hope only to have everything come crashing down like it did so many times? Or was it one of Dumbledore's sick plans, to make them think Tom was coming back so they'd lower their guard down? But yet, the tiny part of him that dared to hope, dared to dream, did not let go of the idea that this _was_ Tom, that Tom was somehow still around and would be back. As if on cue, the mark tingled again, a little stronger this time, and a warm, comforting feeling washed over Severus.

Reluctantly, Severus let go of the Mark. If this was one of Dumbledore's plans, it wouldn't do to ruin his façade as Dumbledore's trusted spy and risk the lives of himself and the other Death Eaters. And if it was just his mind playing tricks on him, why get his hopes up only to have them crushed?

His thoughts returned to Harry. What would the child be like when he entered Hogwarts? Would he be arrogant, a Gryffindor golden boy who despised Slytherins and thought the sun shone out of Dumbledore's ass?

Or worse, would he be an abused child? Lucius and Narcissa had told him that they feared Harry had been placed with Lily's sister. Severus knew Petunia; had seen how cruel and vindictive she was to Lily. And Lily had told him that Petunia's husband was even worse. Severus knew about abused children; they often got sorted into Slytherin, not to mention he'd been an abused child himself. He knew how emotionally attached they got to their rescuers, how they'd do anything for them. And if this was the case with Harry, Dumbledore would make sure Harry would see him as his savior. The thought of little Harry being abused was unbearable to Severus. If it was the case, he'd make sure to protect the child, spy role be damned.

Severus tried to get back to his work, but still couldn't focus on it and he slammed his quill down in frustration. Glancing at the clock, he realized it was nearly midnight. He leaned back into his chair and closed his eyes, his mind replaying back to the last time he saw Lily and James…and Tom…alive.

_Flashback_

_October 29, 1981_

_Three taps sounded on the door of Slytherin's Sanctuary, Tom's home and this week's meeting place. Tom was busy talking to Fenir's pack and Remus, so Severus strolled over and opened the door. There stood Lily and James, baby Harry in Lily's arms._

"_Hello, Severus." Lily said, standing on tiptoe and giving him a kiss on the cheek._

"_Hey, don't steal my wife!" James joked, giving Severus a friendly punch on the shoulder. Despite the rumors going around the Order, he knew Severus was no threat to his marriage; the entire Inner Circle knew that the Dark Lord and Severus were together thanks to Bella's big mouth._

"_Unca Seb!" Harry squealed before Severus could utter a witty retort. Severus let out a chuckle and lifted the child out of Lily's arms, wincing when the toddler grabbed a handful of his hair and tugged._

"_Hello, Lily, James," Narcissa greeted, walking over with Draco in her arms. Harry saw Draco and both began babbling in baby talk. _

"_Wonder what deep conversation they're having?" James laughed._

_Another three taps and the door opened to reveal Sirius Black. "Hey there, Prongs, Lils, and Prongslet," he greeted, ruffling the giggling toddler's hair. "Unca Pa'foo!" the toddler laughed. "Hello, Severus." he said with much less enthusiasm. Sirius's attention went to Narcissa and Draco. He grinned. "And there's Draco!" He made a funny face at the little blonde boy, who erupted in laughter. "You look just like your father. Cousin Sirius will have to work extra hard to make sure you don't turn out boring, just like him." Narcissa swatted him in the back of the head. "Ow! Sorry, Cissy!" _

"_And there's seven of my favorite people!" Bellatrix exclaimed, walking up to them with a huge grin. "And my wittle nephew, Draco!" Draco reached out to her, obviously wanting her to pick him up. She obliged, scooping him up, tossing him in the air and catching him, which of course started a new round of baby giggles. Tom heard all the commotion, turned around to look, smiled, then returned to his conversation._

"_And there's my wittle Harry!" Bella cooed. She handed Draco to his "aunt Lily" and scooped Harry out of Severus's arms. She lifted him high into the air and blew a raspberry into his tummy. The toddler laughed and squirmed._

"_Are you all here for the Death Eater meeting or just to play with the babies?" Tom asked sternly as he walked up, though the undertone of amusement in his voice was unmistakable. _

"_Unca Tom!" Harry squealed, reaching out for the Dark Lord. "Up!" So much for intimidation…._

"_Guess my turn's over." Bellatrix laughed as she passed Harry to the slightly embarrassed Dark Lord._

_Tom took the baby, bouncing him slightly in his arms. "I still can't believe you taught him to call me that…"_

"_Don't pretend you don't love it." Bella teased. "Admit it. You're as smitten with him as the rest of us are."_

_Tom just glared at her, but considering the fact that he was still bouncing the baby in his arms, Bella had her answer._

"_Plus, Uncle Tom is a lot better then Vol'nert…" Sirius mumbled to James, who laughed and tried to cover it up as a snort. Harry's very funny mispronunciation of the word Voldemort was well known throughout the Inner Circle after little Harry blurted it out right before a meeting with pretty much every Death Eater in the room. Tom had burst out laughing when Harry had done it. He hexed Sirius when he tried…_

_Tom overheard and gave them a death glare. Somehow, despite the fact that he was holding a fourteen month old baby, he still managed to make both Sirius and James gulp and back up a few feet._

_A soft hiss was heard, and in slithered Nagini from another room. Weaving around the other groups of Death Eaters, she headed up to them. Harry began excitedly hissing and reached out for her. Obligingly, Tom bent over so Harry could stroke and hug her, surprisingly gently considering he was a toddler. Lily watched nervously, holding a wriggling Draco. Though her son was a Parselmouth and she knew Nagini well enough to know the snake would rather bite off her own tail then harm Harry; it still went against every instinct she had as a mother to let her son be that close to a six foot rattlesnake._

_It had been a huge surprise when they discovered that little Harry was a Parselmouth a few weeks ago. Neither had known where that had come from, considering that James had no Parselmouths in his line and Lily was a muggleborn. Tom had suggested that maybe James had a Parselmouth as one of his ancestors or that Lily may have a Squib in her family line that either was or may have been related to a Parselmouth. "Or," he had said. "Harry may be first generation. No one truly knows what causes the ability." Tom had told them that if they really wanted to know, they could go to Gringotts for a bloodline test. But Lily and James had never had the chance…_

_Tom finally handed Harry-somewhat reluctantly it seemed- over to Narcissa who took him and Draco to another room so they wouldn't interrupt the meeting._

"_Now," Tom said. "Are we ready to start the meeting?" He grabbed Severus's hand, and they, as well as the other groups of Death Eaters, headed off to the Meeting Room._

_The meeting had gone well, as far as Death Eater meetings go. Fenir and Remus had reported that both the Germany and Ireland wolf-packs would be allying themselves with them. The vampires too were considering an alliance; they had suffered much under the current Ministry. Lucius reported that he and the other Death Eaters in the Ministry had successfully stopped a law Dumbledore was trying to pass that would register all with creature blood, and Barty Crouch Jr. handed out copies he had managed to make of the crooked laws his own father was trying to pass in hopes that they would be able to find a loophole or some way to stop them. Lily, James, Sirius, and Remus told Tom they had heard no news of any more attacks through the Order Of The Phoenix, though they would not be letting their guard down._

_After a few hours, the meeting was wrapped up, goodbyes were said, and everyone began leaving. Severus had trouble saying goodbye to Lily, James, and Harry, and later that night, to the Dark Lord. Maybe his mind had known what his heart hadn't wanted to admit…_

…_..._

The Floo flared to life, startling Severus out of his memories and making him knock over his lesson plans. Lucius's face appeared in the flames.

"Sev, we've got Harry. He knows the truth…"

…...

Malfoy Manor

At around three the next morning, Hercules was awakened by soft whimpering coming from Harry. _Another nightmare. _Hercules wasn't surprised, the poor child had been through a lot that day, but he wished his hatchling could have a good night's sleep for once.

Hercules pulled Harry closer, sending waves of comfort. Sometimes this worked to soothe the nightmare, yet let the child stay asleep. But tonight it didn't work. The whimpers became screaming and Harry began to thrashing around on the bed. _"Wake up, Harry. It's just a dream. You're safe." _Hercules told him, nudging the child to wake him up. Normally this snapped Harry out of his nightmares, but this time Harry didn't wake up, and his thrashing grew worse. After getting kicked a few times, Hercules got a tight enough grip on the child to keep him from throwing himself off the bed, but not tight enough to cause him any injury. The child struggled against his hold, still screaming, yet not opening his eyes. _"Harry, wake up! It's just me, it's Hercules! You're having a nightmare! Please wake up!" _Hercules practically screamed, getting a little panicked. Why wouldn't Harry wake up?

The screaming woke Draco. Frightened, he ran to his parents' room, banging on their door. "Mum! Dad! There's something wrong with Harry!" Lucius and Narcissa jumped out of bed and rushed to Harry's room, Draco right behind them.

"Harry? What's wrong?" Lucius called as they entered. Turning on the light, they saw Harry screaming and thrashing on the bed, with Hercules coiled around him, frantically trying to wake him up. Lucius quickly cast Scio Serpens Oratio on Hercules as Narcissa and Draco ran to the bed. "Hercules, what's wrong with him?"

"_**Nightmare. But he won't wake up!" **_Hercules replied, and Lucius could hear the panic in his voice. Draco shook Harry's shoulder, but Harry just screamed and struggled harder against Hercules. Lucius was about to use Legimency on Harry, see if he could pull the child out of his dream, when Harry's eyes suddenly snapped open and he jolted to a sitting position.

…...

_Harry's Dream_

_He was in a small but nicely decorated nursery, lying in a crib, a mobile with small snitches on it above him. His Mum and Dad were taking turns reading him a bedtime story and he was laughing. The window was open, letting cool air into the room._

_Suddenly, a silvery white snake came in through the window. Its mouth opened. "Lily, James, the wards have fallen! Get out of there!"_

_His father gasped and ran to the window. "Lily, it's them! Grab Harry and run! I'll hold them off!" He threw a silvery gray cloak to them and ran downstairs._

"_James!" his mother screamed._

_She ran to the crib and scooped him up, covering both of them with the cloak and ran downstairs. As they passed the window, Harry saw flashes of green light outside._

_His father was lying on the floor of the living room, not moving. Harry could hear his mother trying not to cry. Something yanked the cloak off them and his mother screamed._

"_Did you really think you could hide from me under an invisibility cloak, Lily?" a man asked in an amused voice. The speaker had silver hair and a long beard, blue eyes twinkling below half-moon spectacles._

_His mum put Harry down, stood in front of him, and raised her wand. "Avada-"_

"_Expelliarmus." the man said almost lazily. His mother's wand flew out of her hand. _

"_You've been a bad girl, Lily." the man taunted. "Joining the Death Eaters, who would have thought it of you?"_

_His mother lunged for the man. "Petrificus Totalus!" he roared. She fell to the floor._

"_Your Lord is dead, and a few little spells have made sure your precious Death Eaters won't arrive in time to save you." He laughed evilly. "Avada Kedvra!"_

_Harry was crying. Who was this scary man and why wouldn't his mother and father move? The scary man reached down and grabbed him. He tried to get away, but the man's grip was too tight. The man grinned insanely at him. "Hope you will be more…cooperative than your predecessor. Diffindo!" Harry felt a splitting pain on his forehead…_

…_..._

Harry jolted out of the dream, shooting up into a sitting position. Hercules was coiled around him, looking at him with worry. _**"Harry, you scared me when you didn't wake up. Are you okay?"**_

Harry shook his head and threw his arms around Hercules, burying his head in the snake's scales and sobbing. _**"Shh, Harry. I've got you, you're safe…" **_the snake murmured.

"Are you alright, Harry?" Narcissa asked. Harry flinched, not having known the Malfoys were there. "I'm so sorry! I didn't mean to wake you up!" he cried.

"Oh, sweetheart, that's alright." Narcissa reassured. She sat down on the edge of the bed. "That sounded like a terrible dream. Would you like to talk about it?" Draco sat on Harry's side opposite Hercules and began to rub his back.

Crying, Harry told them the events of the dream. Draco looked like he was going to be sick. "That's awful…" he murmured.

Narcissa began sobbing and Lucius wrapped his arms around her. She clung to him for dear life. Harry felt terrible about making her cry. "I'm sorry…" he murmured.

"Sweetheart, I'm not upset with you." Narcissa sniffled. "I'm am just so sad that you had to remember something that horrible." She moved so that she could wrap him, Draco, and Hercules in a hug(not an easy feat, but she somehow managed.)

Harry cuddled into Narcissa and Hercules, still shaking. The nightmare seemed to confirm what the Malfoys had told him last night; that Tom was innocent, that his parents really had been killed by Dumbledore. "T-The m-man in my n-nightmare was D-Dumbledore, wasn't he?"

Lucius nodded grimly. He sat down on the edge of the bed. "Yes, Harry, it was."

"Why?" Harry asked, sobbing.

"Because he's a psychopath." Lucius growled. Seeing Harry's frightened expression, he softened his tone. "I'm angry at him, not you, child." Gently, he placed a hand on Harry's shoulder. "I am so, so sorry you had to go through all this."

"Master Lucius sir?" a tiny voice asked. Everyone turned to see Lottie and Dobby. "Dobby and Lottie heard screaming. Is everything okay?"

"Harry had a nightmare." Narcissa told them, not going into any detail.

"Lottie will bring some hot chocolate." Lottie said. It was her patented remedy for when Young Master Draco and before him, Young Master Severus, had had nightmares. She looked at the child with worry. Mistress Narcissa had let her know that Young Master Harry had been hurt badly, treated worse than the worst-treated house-elf. Hopefully with a few of Lottie's good meals and a lot of love the child would be better soon.

"Thank you, Lottie." Narcissa told her.

Lottie returned a few minutes later with four steaming cups of hot chocolate. Harry's hands were shaking so badly that Lucius had to help him steady it or else it would have spilled all over the bed or himself. Still the child was shaking too much to be able to drink it and Lucius gently took it from him, setting it on the bedside stand. "Dobby, can you bring a few vials of Calming Draught, please?" Lucius asked. Harry definitely needed one, and by the look on his wife and son's faces, they looked like they could use one too. He might even need one himself after all this…

"Yes, Master Lucius, sir." the little elf replied, popping away. He returned a minute later with the vials. Lucius uncorked one for Harry. "Here, Harry, drink this."

Harry looked at it warily, understandably unsure about drinking an unknown substance. Picking up on Harry's nervousness, Lucius explained, "It's a Calming Draught, Harry. It will help relax you."

Harry looked at Hercules, who glanced at the vial and then Lucius before giving the child a nod. Harry took it with a soft thank you and with Lucius helping him to hold it steady, quickly drank it down, grimacing at the taste. A moment later, Harry's body began to relax and the shaking subsided. Lucius handed the mug of hot chocolate back to Harry, who slowly sipped at it.

Soon, the calming draught and hot chocolate, as well as the many nights of little sleep, caught up with Harry and his eyes began to slowly drift shut. He fought it for a few seconds, but it was clearly a losing battle. Lucius took the half-full mug from him and Hercules shifted so Harry could lie down, coiling around the child again as he did. Harry cuddled into Hercules and was asleep within seconds.

"I'll take Draco back to bed." Narcissa murmured. Draco, clearly still a little shaken, was in no state to protest as his mother led him from the room.

"_**Lucius?" **_Hercules asked quietly once Narcissa and Draco were gone, not wanting to wake the child he was coiled around. _**"What does that…thing…want with my hatchling?"**_

"I'm guessing by "thing," you mean Dumbledore?" Lucius stated. He liked the insult. It definitely fit.

Hercules nodded.

"I have a few theories, but can I tell both of you later today?" Lucius asked. The snake gave him a strange look. "I'm not trying to avoid your question, Hercules." Lucius hastily assured. "But I'm not completely clearheaded right now and it will be easier to explain things in the morning when I'm more awake." Lucius sighed. "Plus, it's going to be upsetting and I don't want Harry to get woken up and be afraid to go back to sleep. He went through enough of a shock last night and he needs his rest."

Hercules gave the snake's equivalent of a sigh. _**"I understand and I'll wait until later. But you're not going to get out of telling me this information. I need to know it to protect Harry." **_His tone was firm, not allowing for any arguments, not that Lucius was going to argue with a ten foot boa constrictor.

"Hercules, I promise I'm going to tell you tomorrow. And I'm not going to allow either Harry or you to be harmed." Hercules nodded, but Lucius could tell that the snake was still trying to decide whether Lucius could be fully trusted or not. Lucius was actually glad for this. The snake's protective, suspicious nature would keep Harry safe and from falling under Dumbledore's control. Quietly, Lucius told the snake good night and left, leaving the door open a crack so they wouldn't feel trapped and Hercules could get out in the night if he needed to.

Lucius then walked into Draco's room to check on his son. Narcissa was sitting next to Draco, rubbing the boy's back as he cried.

"Everything's going to be okay, Draco." Lucius whispered, sitting next to his son and putting his arm around him. Draco looked embarrassed for crying, but then snuggled into his father. Lucius remembered himself crying to his own parents at the age of thirteen after hearing about the abuse his best friend had been through. He pulled his son closer. "I know this has to be really rough on you, having a new brother so suddenly and hearing what he's been through." Draco nodded, sniffling.

"Be assured that nothing will ever change our love for you." Narcissa murmured. "We love you so much and we are so proud of you." Lucius nodded.

Draco hugged both his parents. "Thanks." he whispered.

"Do you need a Calming Draught or a Dreamless Sleep?" Lucius asked.

Draco shook his head. "No, but can you stay with me until I fall asleep?" he pleaded.

"Of course."

A few minutes later, all three were asleep, Draco in his bed and the older Malfoys in chairs next to it.

…..

During breakfast, Hercules kept glancing at Lucius, as if reminding him of his promise. Once everyone was finished, Lucius led Harry and Hercules to his office while Narcissa and Draco went to prepare for Severus's visit. He cast Scio Serpens Oratio on Hercules; there was no doubt the snake would want to be part of the conversation. He sat down and gestured for them to do the same.

"Harry, Hercules…I.." Well that came out well. Probably because Lucius would rather be under the Crutacius for two hours than tell a child that a psychopath had sinister plans for him, then tell him what said plans were.

"What does Dumbledore want with us?" Harry asked softly. The last words of his dream haunted him."H-He said that he hoped I would be more cooperative than my predecessor; I-I think that means my parents or Tom, d-does he want to m-make me e-evil since he c-couldn't do it to T-Tom?" His words came out in a rush. Shaking, Harry clung to Hercules, who pulled him closer, as if he could protect Harry by never letting him go.

"I don't think so." Lucius told him. "But I fear he has another plan that's just as bad." Merlin, he hated telling an abused eleven year old something this horrible, but he had to so Harry wouldn't fall into Dumbledore's clutches. "Do you remember the prophecy I told you about last night?"

Harry and Hercules nodded.

"I fear he plans to bring it to life."

"_**He wants to set my hatchling up to fight Voldemort." **_It was not a question.

Miserably, Lucius nodded. "From what Sev told us, it's looking like that's his plan. But we will not let him do that to you. We will make sure you are protected, both mentally and physically, when you go to Hogwarts."

Harry started shaking and Hercules glared at Lucius. _**"You telling me you're having my hatchling go to a school taught by the man who killed his parents! You told me you were going to protect him!" **_The snake left Harry's side and rushed at Lucius.

Lucius barely dodged his strike. He had to leap on top of his desk to get out of the enraged snake's reach. "Hercules, calm down!"

"_**Don't you DARE tell me to calm down, human! You promised us, PROMISED US, you would keep Harry SAFE! Now you're going to send him right into the den of a predator! And to think we trusted you!" **_Hercules screamed, striking again. Lucius had to actually grab hold of the chandelier and hang on to it to avoid Hercules's attacks.

Harry watched Lucius's every movement and looked for something to throw if the man attempted to harm Hercules. He found a paperweight and grabbed it, leaping to his feet and joining Hercules, who told him to stand back. He had started to trust the man, had thought Lucius actually might care for him! Was that all a lie too?

The betrayed look in Harry's eyes hurt Lucius more than one of Hercules's strikes or the thrown paperweight would have. "I am trying to protect you both! Just let me explain!"

"_**You have ten seconds." **_Hercules growled.

"Dumbledore expects Harry to be at Hogwarts. If he's not, I fear Dumbledore will track him down and if he finds out what Harry knows, he will try to control him magically or…worse. If Harry goes to Hogwarts and we keep his mind protected, Dumbledore will think he is still ignorant, and we can stall his plans while myself and the other Death Eaters try to find a way to bring him down for good."

Hercules relaxed his strike position. Though he hated to admit it, Lucius had a point. Considering those letters had chased them all over creation no matter what method of escaping them they used, he wasn't sure he and Harry could hide without being found. He nodded once to Lucius and turned to Harry, pulling the trembling child gently to the floor and coiling around him. Very nearly sighing in relief, Lucius dropped down from the chandelier, going back to sit at his desk.

Harry was relieved. Lucius wasn't betraying them, he really was trying to help. But fear soon overtook the relief. He would have to go to a school taught by the man who killed his parents. And Dumbledore clearly wanted to not just hurt him, but to make him hurt someone else! What if Dumbledore hurt Draco? What if he hurt, or worse, _killed _Hercules? Harry's trembling grew worse and he clung tightly to Hercules. "H-How do w-we stop him? H-How d-do we k-keep h-him from c-controlling m-my mind like he almost d-did to V-Voldemort? What if h-he attacks D-Draco? What if he hurts Hercules, or….or… _Hercules, you can't go to Hogwarts with me, you can't, I can't lose you, my parents and my uncle Tom are already dead because of me! I can't lose you too!" _He was sobbing now, too upset to even realize he had switched to Parseltongue.

"_**Harry, stop talking like that! Your parent's and Voldemort's death was not your fault, and there's no way I'm leaving you!" **_Hercules cried. Harry was too panicked to hear him, continuing to plead with the snake to run, to get himself out of danger, and not to risk himself for Harry, saying he was not worth it. It broke Hercules's heart to know his hatchling thought so little of himself, and that he blamed himself for something far beyond his control.

"_**Harry, look at me." **_Hercules commanded, nudging the child to snap him out of his panic. Frightened green eyes met his own. _**"Harry, you ARE worth it. You are a sweet, kind, and smart child. I don't understand why you can't see what I see." **_Noticing the child still didn't seem to believe him, Hercules tried another tactic. A risky one, but one he thought might get through to his hatchling. _**"Harry, am I worthless?"**_

Harry looked horrified. _"No, Hercules! How could you even think that?"_

Hercules gave the snake's equivalent of a shrug. _**"Harry, a lot of humans think snakes are either worthless pests to be exterminated or something to shove into a cage and stare at."**_

"_Well, they're wrong!" _Harry told him fiercely. _"You're kind, strong, brave, incredibly smart…" _He hugged the snake, continuing to list reasons. _"And you mean everything to me. I love you, Hercules! You're my best friend! How could you possibly think you're worthless?"_

"_**I don't, Harry." **_Hercules reassured him. _**"I was trying to prove a point. Harry, you mean every bit as much to me as I do to you. To me, you're worth everything. And there are other people who care about you too. The Malfoys, Hagrid, the other Death Eaters… Why does it matter what the Dursleys thought? They're the worthless ones, not you!"**_

Hercules pulled the child closer. _**"I love you and I'm going to protect you no matter what. I told you that yesterday, remember? Harry, I know you don't want me to get hurt, but I don't want YOU to get hurt either. I'm going to Hogwarts with you." **_Though his tone was gentle, he made it clear that there was going to be no arguments.

"Listen to your familiar, Harry." Lucius said. Both Harry and Hercules jumped, having forgotten he was even there. "You have a lot of people who care for you and want to protect you." His tone became stern. "And your parents and Tom's deaths were NOT your fault and they would have been the first to say it. It's Dumbledore's fault. He's the one that killed them, that was at least responsible for Tom's death. Blame Dumbledore all you want to, but NEVER blame yourself." Harry nodded, but Lucius still wasn't sure if Harry believed him.

"How do we keep Dumbledore from getting inside my head and controlling me? And how can Draco, Hercules and I stay safe while at Hogwarts?" Harry questioned.

"For the first part of your question, Harry, I will be teaching you Occlumency, the art of shielding your mind." Lucius replied. "That way Dumbledore cannot get into your head and read your thoughts or control you. Draco is already proficient in the art. I will be teaching both of you offensive and defensive spells and we have many artifacts that will help shield you and Draco from mental and physical spells. Plus, you will each be given a portkey designed to bypass Hogwarts wards that will take you straight to Malfoy Manor if there is any trouble at all."

"And as for Hercules… Hercules, may I use Legimency on you?"

"_**What is that?" **_the snake asked suspiciously.

"Legimency is a spell that allows the caster to see into the target's mind." Noticing the boa constrictor did NOT look too pleased with that statement, he quickly continued, not wanting to have to hang from a chandelier again. "It will only be for a few seconds. I just want to see if your mind is shielded. I doubt Dumbledore would think to look into your mind but I don't want to take chances." After a few minutes' thought, Hercules gave him a nod. "Legimens." Lucius murmured.

Entering Hercules's mind, Lucius was stopped by a wall. He pushed on it, examined it for cracks, but it would not give. Sighing with relief, he exited Hercules's mind. "You're shielded, Hercules. I don't think anyone can get through those." Nagini too had had Occlumency shields; from what Tom had told him, most snakes did.

Lucius turned to Harry. "We have some charmed objects that can be sized to fit Hercules. They will help protect him from physical spells."

Harry nodded, relieved that there was a way to keep Hercules safe. "When will you start teaching me?" he asked.

"I'll be giving you your first Occlumency lesson tonight after dinner." Lucius replied. "Yours and Draco's defense lessons will start tomorrow." He wished it wasn't necessary to have to do this. It was like he was turning Harry into a soldier to keep him from becoming a weapon…

A knock on the door startled all three of them. "Father, Harry, Uncle Sev is here."

…...

Harry, Lucius, and Hercules followed Draco to the living room, where Narcissa was talking to a pale man with long black hair and a hooked nose. Harry immediately recognized him from last night's photographs and even if Draco hadn't been talking about his visit all through dinner last night and breakfast this morning, Harry would have known his name. As they approached, Severus turned and gave them a small smile.

"Harry, this is Severus Snape." Lucius said.

"Hello, sir." Harry whispered shyly.

Severus walked over and crouched down so he was at Harry's level. He desperately wanted to hug the child, but knew it would only frighten him. "Hello, Harry. There's no need to call me sir while we're not in school. Please call me Severus."

Harry nodded and Severus turned to Hercules, who was next to Harry, his body alert and tense, eyes locked on Severus. "Hello. You must be Hercules. It's nice to meet you."

Hercules nodded, relaxing slightly. He sensed no threat from this man. In fact he had the feeling that this Severus cared a lot for his hatchling. Still, he would not be lowering his guard completely. There were too many people who wanted to harm his hatchling, and if Hercules's intuitions were wrong, it could mean Harry's life and he would NOT let that happen.

Draco was eager for the Potions lesson to begin. "Which potion will we be making today, Uncle Sev?"

Severus let out a small chuckle. His godson's eagerness and aptitude for potions made him extremely proud. "I was thinking that since this is Harry's first lesson, we should start with the Boil Cure. How does that sound?"

Draco nodded. "Sounds great, Uncle Sev." Noticing Harry looked a little nervous, Draco placed a hand on his shoulder. "Don't worry, Harry. I'll help you."

"Severus, can you watch Draco and Harry for a few hours, please?" Lucius asked. "Narcissa and I need to meet with Amelia Bones."

"Of course." Severus told him. Though Amelia was on the Light side, Severus knew she was just and fair, and once she found out about what that poor child had been through, she'd be quick to arrest the Dursleys and try them for child abuse.

Severus had been horrified when he had found out that his precious little "nephew" had been so badly hurt. Though he had feared that was the case, had suspected it even, it still came as a shock when Lucius and a tearful Narcissa had revealed exactly how bad it had been. How could anyone treat that sweet little child that way?

"You're leaving?" Harry whispered, bringing Severus out of his thoughts.

Lucius crouched down to Harry's level. "Harry we're going to be meeting with the Head of the Department Of Magical Law Enforcement, Amelia Bones so we can report the Dursleys for child abuse. Amelia is very just and fair; she will make sure the Dursleys are arrested and can never harm you again."

Harry nodded. He knew this was coming from what Lucius told him yesterday and was relieved yet frightened at the same time. What if Amelia didn't believe him and made him go back to the Dursleys? None of his teachers had ever believed him…

"_It's going to be okay, Harry." _Hercules reassured, sending him waves of comfort.

Goodbyes were said, and Lucius and Narcissa headed off through the Floo. Noticing Harry was still afraid, Draco decided to cheer him up. "C'mon, Harry!" he said, grabbing Harry's hand. "Let's go make potions!" He pulled Harry in the direction of the Potions Lab. Severus and Hercules exchanged an amused look and followed.

…...

Severus was proud; Harry was proving to be as adept a potions-maker as Draco. He had a deft hand when it came to measuring and preparing the ingredients(he balked a little at using the snake fangs at first, but with a reassurance from Severus that the fangs could be removed without pain and that they did grow back, as well as what must have been a hissed reassurance from Hercules, he quickly got back on task). The child also made sure to follow the instructions very carefully. Only minor corrections(like on how finely to grind the ingredients) were needed.

Harry and Draco worked well together, sharing the work equally. If Harry was sorted into his house, Severus would have to make sure they were paired together as often as possible.

As the potion brewed, Severus went over the first few chapters of Magical Drafts And Potions with Harry and Draco. Both boys soaked up information like a sponge, and Harry even mustered the courage to ask a few questions, which pleased Severus.

It did worry him that Harry was still so skittish around him and that his questions were barely audible, but Severus knew it was to be expected from all the horrors the child had been through. He hoped in time Harry would be able to trust him again, and they could have the same close relationship they did when Harry was a baby.

Hercules remained close to Harry the entire time, coiled around Harry's chair with his head in Harry's lap. It reminded Severus achingly of Tom and Nagini, down to the tender, protective look Hercules always gave Harry. Nagini had always given that look to Tom, and even him. She had always been the protective, motherly sort. It was strange how a snake who was someone else's familiar had been more of a mother to Severus then his own mother…

Draco nudged his godfather asking if he was okay, as the man had been simply staring at them for several minutes. Severus snapped back to reality and assured his godson that he was fine. _Get a grip on yourself! _Severus fiercely scolded himself. Spacing out like this during class would never do, especially when he had to go back to Hogwarts and teach a roomful of dunderheaded Gryffindors…

It was soon time for the second stage in the potion. Harry had some trouble with telling the difference between clockwise and counter-clockwise, so Draco took over the stirring as Harry added the ingredients. A near-perfect potion resulted from all their hard work, which Severus praised them for. He was greatly looking forward to having them in class, though he still worried about how to treat Harry without arousing Dumbledore's suspicions.

They were debating on making a second potion when the door of the Potions Lab opened and Narcissa and Lucius walked in. They smiled at Harry and Draco.

Severus pulled them aside. "How did it go?" It was obvious Harry, Draco, and Hercules were trying to listen in, so Lucius motioned them over.

"Amelia is sending Aurors over right away to arrest the Dursleys." Narcissa reported. Amelia had been horrified when she heard of the abuse Harry had gone through and saw the medical report and Lucius, Narcissa, and Steven's Pensieve memories. They hadn't even left her office before she had started calling for Aurors. And much to the Malfoys relief, she had allowed Harry to remain in their care. "She's not sure exactly when the trial will be but she'll let us know as soon as she does.

"So I won't have to go back to the Dursleys?" Harry asked.

"Of course not!" Lucius assured him.

"_And even if she did try to send you back, I'd never let that happen. I'd just take you away with me again." _Hercules said.

…...

Lucius and Narcissa asked Severus to stay for lunch, which he accepted. Afterwards, they retreated to the living room. Draco pulled out his Wizards Chess set and was teaching Harry how to play as Hercules watched. The adults sat down at the other end of the room to talk.

"How are you holding up?" Severus asked quietly.

Narcissa sniffled. "Not so well." she whispered. "Harry had a nightmare last night. He remembers, Sev. He remembers Lily and James's death!"

"Oh no…" Sev murmured. Not a thing he wanted any child to have to remember. "How much does he remember?"

"Almost everything, I think." Lucius told him. "He told us that he was in the nursery with Lily and James when a white snake arrived, telling them the wards had fallen and to get out."

"Tom's patronus…" Severus whispered.

"He said James had thrown them the Invisibility Cloak and told them to run while he held them off." The details in Harry's dream haunted Lucius. "Lily-she tried to run, but Dumbledore caught them-he had already killed James. He taunted her-he somehow found out she was in the Death Eaters- he told her Tom was dead and he had placed some spells to make sure we didn't get there in time to save her."

"It was a trap…" Severus whispered. The Inner Circle, especially Severus, had blamed themselves for not getting there in time to save Tom, James, and Lily. But now he realized that the Death Eaters not getting there soon enough was Dumbledore's doing, not their own.

Lucius just nodded. "And he killed her-killed her right in front of Harry, and then he-" Lucius's eyes widened in horror. "HE USED SOME SORT OF SPELL ON HARRY!"

Harry, Hercules, and Draco jumped about a mile in the air at Lucius's shout, Harry nearly falling off his chair before Hercules caught and steadied him.

Lucius hurried towards Harry. Why had this part of Harry's dream not registered to him earlier? What if Dumbledore had done something horrible to Harry, well something besides the horrible things he had already done? What if he had done something to Harry's mind?

Harry was shaking as Lucius reached him. Hercules coiled around him, his body between Harry and Lucius. "W-What's going on?"

Lucius tried to calm down, though it was extremely difficult. "Harry, I'm sorry I scared you, but can you tell me what the last spell Dumbledore used in your dream was?"

It was the first time Harry had seen Lucius show any emotion resembling panic. He tried hard to remember. "Diff.. Diffindo, I think. And I felt a really bad pain in my forehead. W-Why?"

"The Severing Charm…" Severus murmured.

"Can I move your bangs aside so I can see your forehead?" Lucius asked, his hand shaking. Hesitantly, Harry nodded, and Lucius gently pushed aside his bangs to reveal his lightning bolt scar.

"He must have carved that into Harry's forehead!" Narcissa cried.

"Harry, we need to get you to Gringotts." Lucius told him, fighting panic. "Dumbledore used a Severing Charm on your forehead and he may have used other spells on you. The goblins are the best in the world at removing harmful spells."

Crying, Harry nodded. Lucius picked him up and rushed towards the floo, Hercules following him.

"Narcissa, can you take Hercules? Severus, can you watch Draco while-"

"No." Draco said before Severus could reply. "Harry's my brother. I want to be there for him."

Lucius didn't have time to argue. "All right, we'll all go. Diagon Alley!"

…...

It was a disheveled and terrified group of six, five humans and one snake, that rushed into Gringotts.

"I need whoever's in charge of spell removal please. It's an emergency!" Lucius frantically told the teller.

"Sir, I'm going to need you to calm down and state your name and the names of your party." the goblin said, sounding a little irritated.

"Sorry. I am Lucius Malfoy. This is my wife Narcissa Malfoy, my son Draco Malfoy, our foster child Harry Potter and his familiar Hercules, and our friend Severus Snape."

"And what is the nature of your emergency?"

"I have reason to fear damaging spells have been used on Harry, possibly on his mind or his magic. He needs to be checked right away."

"Would the suspect be Albus Dumbledore by any chance?" the goblin asked. Lucius nodded and the goblin mumbled, "Not again…" before pressing a button and calling, "We need The Spell Removal team to Reception Desk Six immediately!"

A few minutes later, several goblins arrived. "My name is Galhook and I'm the head of the Spell Removal team. What's your emergency?" Lucius repeated the story and the goblin frowned before saying, "Mr. Potter, come with us please. And you," he gestured to one of the other goblins, "Get the Potter account manager. We're going to need him."

"Can-Can they stay with me, please, sir?" Harry asked, motioning to the rest of the group. He didn't want to go in there alone.

The goblin nodded. "They may."

Lucius gently set Harry down, but had to steady the shaking child. Galhook and the others led them to a large room with a desk, several chairs and a ritual circle. They sat, Harry in front of the desk and the others behind him. Hercules coiled around Harry, whispering words of comfort to the terrified and confused child.

Galhook brought over a small penknife and a piece of paper, setting them down in front of Harry. "Mr. Potter, I'm going to need you to prick your finger and place one drop of blood on this paper." Noticing Harry looked confused and scared, the goblin explained, "The paper is enchanted to reveal any charms or magical blocks that have been placed on you. Once we know what has been placed on you, we can remove it."

Nodding, Harry pricked his finger, his hand shaking a little. As the drop of blood hit the paper, Harry and Hercules watched, amazed, as words began forming on the paper. Once the writing stopped, the paper read:

_**Harry James Potter**_

_**Father: James Potter**_

_**Mother: Lily Potter(Evans)**_

_**Familiar Bonds: Hercules(Boa Constrictor)**_

_**Special Abilities: Parseltongue, Wandless Magic(Partially Blocked), Non-Verbal Magic(Partially Blocked)**_

_**Magical Blocks: Wandless Magic(50% blocked), Non-Verbal Magic(75% blocked)- Partially broken by familiar bond **_

_**Caster: Albus Dumbledore**_

_**Spells/Charms: Cast on October 31**__**st**__**, 1981, Caster: Albus Dumbledore**_

_**Loyalty Charm(Albus Dumbledore)- broken by familiar bond**_

_**Repulsion Charm against snakes- Failed**_

_**Repulsion Charm against Tom Marvolo Riddle- Failed**_

_**Repulsion Charm against Slytherin House- Broken by familiar bond**_

_**Repulsion Charm against Malfoy Family- Broken by familiar bond**_

_**Repulsion Charm against Severus Snape- Broken by familiar bond**_

_**Repulsion Charm against Lestrange Family- Broken by familiar bond**_

_**Repulsion Charm against Dark creatures- Broken by familiar bond**_

_**Repulsion Charm against Death Eaters- Broken July 31st, 1991**_

_**Memory Charm(night of October 31**__**st**__**, 1981)- Broken July 31**__**st**__**, 1991**_

_**Anti-Healing Charm(focused on scar on forehead)- intact**_

_**Mail Redirection Charm(Directed to Albus Dumbledore)- intact**_

By the time the paper had been fully read, everyone was shaking. The Malfoys, Galhook, Severus and Hercules in anger; Harry in fear.

Harry hugged Hercules. _"Yet again, you saved my life. Thank you, Hercules. Thank you…"_

Hercules couldn't even respond; he was that much in shock. That monster had hurt his little one, tried to manipulate his mind against the very people trying to save him, but somehow the bond between Harry and Hercules had broken most of those evil charms without them even knowing it was happening. What would have happened had the bond not led Hercules to Harry? How far would that…thing…have gone? Would his precious hatchling have even survived? He held Harry closer, hoping the best he could do was enough to keep Harry safe.

Draco broke the silence. "Will Harry be alright?" Narcissa put an arm around him and reached up to gently rub Harry's back, tears running down her face. Lucius and Severus were so angry they couldn't speak. Dumbledore had put charms on the child to make him hate them. If Hercules hadn't bonded with Harry, would there even been anything they could have done?

Galhook nodded. "Yes he will. Mr. Potter, we need you to come into the ritual circle so we can cleanse you of the blocks. This might be painful but it has to be done." Galhook said, still shocked and angry at the extent of Albus Dumbledore's crimes against a child. He wasn't surprised, though. Not after the multitude of damaging physical spells they had to remove from a sixteen year old Thomas Marvolo Riddle…

Harry nodded, terrified, but wanting the blocks gone. He walked toward the ritual circle. Hercules went to follow him, but the goblin stopped him.

"You can't be in there with him." Galhook told the snake.

Hercules glared at the goblin. _"What?! Why?" _How dare Galhook stop him from being with his hatchling, especially when Harry would be in pain!

Galhook wisely moved back a few feet. He certainly didn't want to tangle with an angry familiar, especially a ten foot snake who could probably crush him, then eat him. Though he couldn't understand Parseltongue, he could pretty much guess what the snake was saying. "I'm sorry, but the magic we're using might harm you if you're there in the circle with him. You can wait right outside the circle, however."

Not wanting Hercules to be hurt, Harry quickly told him, _"Stay, Hercules. I'll be fine." _Harry could handle pain; this couldn't be worse than what his uncle had done to him, but he couldn't handle Hercules being hurt.

Reluctantly, Hercules nodded. Harry walked to the center of the circle and Hercules slithered as close to the circle as he could, making sure he was in Harry's line of sight as Galhook had the child lie down. The others got up and stood next to Hercules, watching Harry worriedly.

Three other goblins stepped forward. After a few words spoken in a language neither Harry nor Hercules could understand, they took their positions around the circle; Galhook at the north end, and the other three at the east, west, and south ends. They began chanting in the same strange language, and Harry could feel magic fill the room.

The chanting grew in intensity and Harry could feel the magic slamming against him, waves of pain spreading through him as the blocks protested. He tried not to scream; it would only upset Hercules and he didn't want the snake to come into the circle to comfort him and get hurt.

Hercules had never felt so helpless. Even though Harry tried to hide it, Hercules could tell he was in pain, could feel it rushing through him as well. And there was nothing Hercules could do to stop it. All he could do was try to send waves of comfort towards the child and think _Harry, it will be all right soon. I'm here._

Harry didn't know how he heard Hercules over the loud chanting, but the words, as well as the comforting presence in his mind, soothed him, even as the pain intensified. With one last push of the magic, Harry felt something snap inside of him. Instantly the pain receded, and Harry felt better, stronger, as the formerly trapped magic rushed through him.

Galhook asked him if he was all right, to which Harry nodded. "Now," the goblin said. "We will remove the Anti-Healing charm on your scar. The Mail Redirection charm can be fixed outside the circle. This shouldn't hurt."

Something occurred to Harry. "Wait." he said. "I think we should leave that charm on." Galhook raised an eyebrow and Harry quickly continued. "If the scar is removed, Dumbledore will know I know the truth and he'll do something even worse. If I keep the scar, he won't know that I know his plans and he'll let down his guard."

The goblins, as well as the Malfoys and Severus, looked impressed. "Good thinking, Mr. Potter." Galhook commented. "You're right. It may be a good idea to leave the charm on for now."

Harry stepped out of the circle, and Galhook removed the Mail Redirection Charm. With some discussion they decided to redirect the mail to the Malfoy residence just in case someone sent Harry something harmful. Lottie and Dobby could easily catch and destroy any malicious letters or packages.

"Speaking of mail, I'm guessing you haven't been getting your Gringotts account notices." Galhook said.

Harry shook his head. "I didn't even know I even had a vault until yesterday. And Hagrid, who took me to get my supplies yesterday, had my key. Is that bad? I mean, I don't think he'd steal from me but…"

Galhook looked worried. "That is definitely not good. We need to see your account manager, Bardook, right away. He needed to speak with you anyway."

He led them into a small room where another goblin was waiting. A few whispered words from Galhook in the same strange language spoken in the Ritual Room, and Bardook's face darkened in rage. Harry flinched and fought the urge to hide behind Hercules.

Galhook left, and Bardook got his expression back under control. "Hello, Mr. Potter. I am Bardook, the Potter account manager. I understand you haven't been getting your account notices and that your key was never in your possession, correct?"

"Yes, sir." Harry whispered.

"Has anyone tried to take any money from Harry's vaults?" Lucius asked. Harry wondered why he had said the words "vaults' instead of "vault". He didn't have more than one vault, did he?

"Albus Dumbledore has tried," Bardook started. Harry looked frightened and the others enraged. "But I stopped him." There were audible sighs of relief from everyone.

"Thank you so much, sir." Harry murmured, grateful that the goblin had kept his inheritance safe.

The goblin blinked. Only Lily Potter, some of the other muggleborns, and Tom Slytherin-formerly Riddle and a few of his Death Eaters had been this polite to a goblin before. "Child, it's our job. We'd be terrible bankers if we let someone steal from our clients' accounts."

He went back to the subject of Albus Dumbledore and his attempted thefts. "He tried to gain access to your vaults claiming he was your "magical guardian" but I told him I needed your written or verbal permission before I could let him withdraw any money. The only thing I couldn't stop him from doing was sending a guardianship payment to your guardians, the Dursley family."

Harry was shaking and Hercules angrily hissed, _"They hurt him AND stole his money? Those things need to die!" _

"Please stop the payments." Narcissa requested, tears in her eyes. "Please stop the payments and get his money back. They abused him."

"What?!" the goblin yelled. In Bardook's culture, child abuse was one of the worst crimes someone could commit. Harry flinched and clung to Hercules who glared at the goblin for scaring his hatchling. Seeing his fear, Bardook attempted to calm down. "It will be done immediately. And they will be charged for fraud as well."

"And as for Albus Dumbledore, don't worry about him stealing from your account. We found a reason to ban him from this bank after he forged your signature." The goblin gave a feral grin. "It was a really stupid move by him. He tried it when you were four. No four year old's signature looks that neat. I have three children of my own and I know these things. And did he really think we were stupid enough not to recognize a forged signature?" He laughed, then continued. "Albus Dumbledore is no longer allowed to do any business with Gringotts."

"_Wait, hold on a minute here! If Dumbledore doesn't do any business with Gringotts, why was Hagrid allowed to pick up that package for him?" _Hercules asked. Something wasn't quite right here…

Harry relayed the question to Bardook, and the goblin's calm expression became that of pure rage. "WHAT?!" Bardook roared.

Harry shrank back from the angry tone and Hercules moved between the angry goblin and his hatchling, assuming a strike position.

The angry expression on the goblin's face softened at the child's terror. "Child, I did not mean to frighten you, but this is serious. You need to tell me everything you know."

Harry thought back, trying to remember. "We were at Reception Desk…ten, I think, I'm pretty sure it was ten, and Hagrid handed the teller this letter he said was from Dumbledore about something in vault seven hundred and thirteen. Hercules told me later that Hagrid's eyes had been glazed and he wasn't acting like himself. I don't think Hagrid's behind this, I really don't…" Harry was babbling at the end, hoping he wasn't getting Hagrid into trouble.

"Could be a compulsion charm, maybe the Imperius curse.." Bardook muttered, writing down everything Harry was saying. "Did he use or touch his wand at all at any time when he was talking to the teller?"

Harry shook his head. "Hagrid doesn't have a wand. He was expelled for some reason and it was snapped. He-He might have pieces of the wand in his umbrella," Harry felt really guilty for saying this but he couldn't lie. "But he didn't even touch it while he was talking to the teller."

"Even if he didn't a snapped wand wouldn't have enough power to use a compulsion charm on a goblin." Bardook said, mostly to himself, still scribbling things down. "Possible compulsion charm on the letter…Unless the teller was either threatened or bribed into it…" He looked at Harry. "We will investigate this fully."

"Will-Will Hagrid get into trouble? I don't think he was behind this…he couldn't have been…" Harry stammered.

"Relax, child, I believe you, but we will have to interrogate the goblin responsible and probably Mr. Hagrid. I do still have the feeling that Albus Dumbledore is responsible, wonder why?" The touch of sarcasm at the end was impossible to miss.

Bardook contacted a few security goblins and told them of the situation, and they left to go find the teller that had been at Reception Desk Ten yesterday. "We'll handle this situation. Don't worry about a thing." Bardook told the group in his office.

"Now we need to get to the next order of business. The Potter will can now be read, now that Mr. Potter is here. You'll never guess who made sure they weren't read before." The sarcasm in his voice was back.

"Should I leave?" Severus asked. He wasn't Harry's guardian; wasn't related to him in any way, he was surprised the goblins had even let him stay this long.

"No, Mr. Snape, you are a recipient in the will." Bardook told him. "Had we needed you to leave, we would have had you leave a long time ago."

Bardook opened the will and started reading.

_**The Last Will And Testament Of James and Lily Potter**_

_**I, James Potter and I, Lily Potter, both being of sound mind, do decree this to be our last will and testament.**_

_**If we died because our location was discovered, let it be known that Peter Pettigrew was our real secret-keeper, not Sirius Black.**_

_**If one of us survives while the other dies, the entirety of the Potter Estate and the custody of our beautiful baby, Harry James Potter will go to the surviving spouse. If both of us die, Harry will inherit the entirety of the Potter Estate, and custody of him will be awarded in this order.**_

_**1. Severus Snape(Godfather, mother's choice) and his life partner Elytron Smith-**_

"Wait, Lily and James made me first choice?" Severus blurted out. "And who the hell is Elytron Smith?! I do not have a life partner named Elytron Smith, my partner is, _was_, Tom! I don't even KNOW an Elytron Smith!"

Chuckling, Bardook answered, "Lily Potter thought you might react like that. She was the one who invented this little trick to fool Dumbledore." He tapped the paper and the letters switched around to reveal the name Tom Slytherin.

Severus smacked himself in the forehead. Wow, did he feel dumb…

"Tom Slytherin is Tom Riddle, right?" Harry asked Lucius.

"Yes. He changed his name after he graduated. That must have been the reason the Repulsion charm connected to him failed. Tom Riddle no longer exists."

Harry nodded. His uncle Sev(though he liked Severus, there was something about the man that made him feel safe; he was still too scared to call him Uncle Sev to his face) had been in a relationship with the Dark Lord. Not that it really bothered him; he just really hadn't seen that coming. By the confused and surprised look on Draco's face, neither had he. And he was still unsure and confused about the custody arrangement. Should he stay with the Malfoys? Go with Severus? Would the Malfoys be upset if he left? Did they want him gone? Would Severus even want him?

As if in response to his thoughts, Draco, who was sitting on one side of him, grabbed his hand, Narcissa, who was on his other side wrapped her arm around his shoulders, and Severus, who was on Draco's other side, and Lucius, who was seated beside Narcissa both gave him a reassuring smile.

Hercules, who was coiled on the ground, his head on Harry's lap, whispered, _"Amigo, no matter what path you choose, or who you decide to stay with, I know you will always have people who want you and love you."_

"Can I get back to reading the will now that the first big shock is over?" Bardook asked, not sure whether to be amused or irritated.

Everyone nodded.

_**2. Sirius Black(Godfather, father's choice)**_

_**3. Alice Longbottom(Godmother) and her husband, Frank Longbottom**_

_**4. Lucius and Narcissa Malfoy**_

_**5. Rodolphus and Bellatrix Lestrange**_

_**6. Minerva McGonagall**_

_**Under NO circumstances is Harry allowed to be placed in the custody of Lily's sister and her vile husband, as they hate magic and will no doubt harm our child.**_

_**To Severus Snape: We give you full guardianship of our son Harry. Take care of him and love him like he was your own as we know you will. We also award you 500,000 galleons, the vault marked Potions Supplies, the notes on the Potions projects you and Lily worked on, and James's apologies for being such a prat to you at Hogwarts.**_

_**To Sirius Black: We leave you 500,000 galleons, our share in Zonko's Joke Shop, all of the Marauders joke items, and our eternal love. Help Severus with Harry(you two can get over your grudge, we know you can) and be the amazing Uncle Padfoot you are. Someone has to teach him to be a Marauder and you're the best one for the job.**_

_**To Remus Lupin: We award you 500,000 galleons(no returning it, got it Moony?), all the plans of the pranks we played(you were the brains behind half of them, even if you'd never admit it), our share in the Apothecary, and our eternal love. Don't let your insecurities get in the way of being Harry's Uncle Moony. You know how much he loves you.**_

_**To Peter Pettigrew: If we died because you betrayed our location, we leave you with nothing but our eternal hatred. Otherwise, we leave you 500,000 galleons, those books that you were always reading every time you came to visit, your favorite chair, the painting you thought was so beautiful, and our eternal love.**_

_**To Alice and Frank Longbottom: We leave you 500,000 galleons. To Alice, Lily leaves the Herbology books she loves so much, their joint notes on Herbology projects, and her love. To Frank, James leaves his Auror equipment and the book on Defense he was always borrowing.**_

_**To Tom Slytherin**_(Bardook had to tap the paper again for the anagram to go back to Tom's real name)_**: We leave you 100,000 galleons, the contents of Vault 83, and our best wishes. Treat Severus right and take care of Harry, or we will haunt you from beyond the grave.**_

_**To Lucius, Narcissa and Draco Malfoy: We leave you 10,000 galleons(we know you don't need the money, but use it to buy yourselves and Draco something nice. No give-backs!) And to Draco, Lily leaves her dragon collection that he loved to play with. Narcissa and Lucius, please help take care of Harry, be his Aunt Cissy and Uncle Luc, and teach him the culture of the wizarding world. **_

_**To Rodolphus and Bellatrix Lestrange: We leave you 10,000 galleons(again, we know you don't need the money but take it anyway and buy yourselves something you really want) Please help take care of Harry. He needs his fun-loving Auntie Bella to teach him how to be crazy in a good way, and his Uncle Roddy to keep her from getting too out of control.**_

_**To Minerva McGonagall: We leave you 100,000 galleons. Buy the school some new brooms, Minnie, the old ones are terrible. And we leave our thanks for being the best teacher and Head Of House we've ever had.**_

_**To Rubeus Hagrid: We leave 10,000 galleons and that book on Magical Creatures(your list of potential pets) you loved so much. Keep Harry safe at Hogwarts as we know you will.**_

_**And to Harry Potter, our beloved son, we leave everything else. We love you so much, baby, and we're so sorry we didn't live to see you grow up. Always remember sweetheart, Mum and Dad love you and we are so, so proud.**_

Harry was crying at the end of the will reading. Here was proof that his parents had really, truly loved him. Hercules coiled around him and Narcissa pulled him into a hug.

Once Harry had calmed down, Bardook showed Harry the account notices for the vaults he owned. Harry was shocked by the amount of wealth his parents had had; the monetary gifts from the will had barely made a dent. Yesterday he thought he had nothing, now he had more money than he knew what to do with. Still, he'd trade it all in a heartbeat to have his parents back. A property list was also shown to him; he owned two properties, Godric's Hollow and Potter Manor. Lucius and Narcissa promised to take him another day to check on them.

Bardook informed him that he would become Head of House Potter when he reached seventeen. Then, he'd be able to vote in the Wizengamot, the wizarding court.

A few minutes later, they thanked Bardook and exited Gringotts. "Let's get some ice cream." Narcissa suggested. "I think everyone needs it."

Though Draco was still worried about the things Dumbledore had done to Harry, and a little about his new brother possibly leaving, he decided to act cheerful for Harry's sake. Plus ice cream did sound really good. "C'mon Harry! Let's race to Florean Fortescue!" He grabbed Harry's hand, running towards the ice cream shop.

…...

"Don't ru-" Narcissa started. But the boys were already off. Hercules shook his head and slithered away quickly to catch up with his beloved hatchling. Narcissa looked at Severus, who was looking upset. "Are you okay?"

"No!" Severus exclaimed. He lowered his voice so the other shoppers wouldn't hear. "I hate Dumbledore for what he did, I feel like I betrayed Lily and James, and I'm shocked they even chose me to be Harry's guardian!"

"Don't you want him?" Narcissa asked.

He glared at her. "Of course I want him! But if Dumbledore finds out…I don't know what will happen and I don't want Harry hurt or worse. And he's starting to trust you and Lucius, I don't want to uproot him from his new family! And…what if I'm a terrible father?"

"Sev, I've seen you with him. He loved his "Unca Sev" so much and you were so gentle, so caring with him. I know you're afraid of becoming your father, but it's never going to happen. And I know both you and Tom wanted to be parents, but the war stopped you. Now you have another chance. And when Tom comes back…"

"What if he doesn't? What if that's a trap by Dumbledore?" Severus asked. He wanted to believe Tom would come back, but Tom was human, not a god. How could he come back from the dead?

"You heard Nagini." Lucius told him. "You know how hard it'd be to manipulate or control a snake. And you've seen our marks, how they've been darkening. Somehow, some way, he's coming back."

"Merlin, I hope so…" Severus murmured.

"Sev, why don't you stay with us until school starts? That will give you and Harry time to get used to one another again. Draco will love having his Uncle Sev around all the time. And this way, all of us get to keep Harry and he doesn't have to choose between one family or the other." Narcissa suggested.

Severus thought about it for a few minutes. He did like the idea of spending more time with Harry and Draco. "All right. Thank you."

…...

Harry was running after Draco, trying to catch up with him, Hercules at his heels. No matter how bad things got, Draco always managed to cheer him up.

The ice cream shop was quickly getting closer. "I'm going to win, Harry!" Draco called, dodging shoppers. Harry laughed and increased his speed.

"_Harry, look out!" _Hercules yelled. Harry turned to look just in time to see he was about to crash into someone. He couldn't stop in time and bumped into the man, falling to the ground. The man stumbled, but kept his balance. Hercules rushed up to Harry, asking if he was okay, and Draco saw what had happened and came jogging back.

"I am so sorry, sir! I didn't mean to! I-"

"I-It's a-alright P-P-Potter." the man stammered, and Harry relaxed a little as he recognized the voice of Professor Quirrell, the man who had saved him from that mob that had been swarming him. "A-Are y-you o-okay?" Professor Quirrell asked, reaching out a hand to help him up. Harry gratefully took it. But as Professor Quirrell pulled him to his feet, he looked into the man's eyes and saw a flash of red.

Suddenly Harry remembered something. The red in the professor's eyes, the red eyes in the photo of Tom… The two men looked nothing alike but the eyes…were the same. Hercules realized what was going on at the same time as Harry and moved closer to the child, looking at Professor Quirrell in shock.

Professor Quirrell looked as shocked as Harry and Hercules. His eyes flashed red…and stayed red. He opened his mouth to say something, but before he could, Lucius and Draco reached them.

…...

Lucius had worried for a second when Harry had run into the man, fearing it might be a mercenary, but then he recognized the face of Quirnius Quirrell, a Death Eater who had joined in 1980, though he wondered why the man had a ridiculous turban wrapped around his head. Probably just one of Quirnius's eccentricities. The man was nearly as strange as Bella, but he was extremely intelligent and loyal to the Dark Lord. He had already told Draco about Quirrell, but he needed to tell Harry.

He noticed Quirrell, Harry, and Hercules locked in a three way staring contest. All three looked shocked about something. "Hello, Quirnius." Lucius said, walking up to them. "How are you…"

He stopped mid-sentence as Quirnius, surprised by Lucius's sudden appearance, looked straight into his eyes. The man's eyes were red. Bright red. And only one wizard had had eyes like those…

"Tom?!"

**Well, Harry finally bumped into Lord Voldemort. Literally…**

**Hopefully, you guys liked this excessively long chapter and aren't about to kill me for the sudden appearance of slash.**

**I hoped you liked my little twist on the whole goblins help Harry thing. They're not going to be fawning over him, but they will keep his account safe like they would any other customer. I did the whole Dumbledore the thief thing, but I decided to have the goblins be proactive and not have someone just steal from one of their clients, especially an eleven year old client. The goblins are on Tom's side a little, because they've had to remove spells from him when he was just a teen and knew Dumbledore's evil plans. They won't be backing him publically; they're neutral, but they will help with any spell removal, keep his identity a secret, and keep his account safe.**

**Draco knows about the Death Eaters and Dumbledore, but chose to go Hogwarts instead of Durmstrang, both because his friends were there and he'd be close to home in case of an emergency.**

**Harry may have a little extra power, but he will not be super-powered or godlike. He's still going to have to work to get to be at a powerful level. Nothing's going to just fall into his lap. **

**Hope you liked this! Please review!**


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